


Keithial, Enslaved

by keithisgay



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood and Gore, Body Modification, Body Worship, Bondage, Cuddling, Fluff, Gore, Hurt Keith (Voltron), Hurt/Comfort, Kinda, Lotor is actually a decent person, M/M, Master/Slave, Non-Consensual Body Modification, Non-Consensual Bondage, Overstimulation, Rape, Rape/Non-con Elements, Sexual Slavery, Slave Trade, Slavery, im sorry, lance is Emotional
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-07
Updated: 2017-09-07
Packaged: 2018-12-12 06:42:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 12
Words: 22,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11731629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keithisgay/pseuds/keithisgay
Summary: “Which do you value more, the life of your red paladin, or the most powerful weapon in the universe? I want the black lion, in exchange for your paladin. I will keep the red lion. And if you refuse, I’ll be keeping the red paladin too.”Zarkon has kidnapped Keith, with intentions to keep him as his own personal slave. What horrors will Keith be put through when playing his role as the slave to the most powerful man in the universe?





	1. Disoriented

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is my first fic in about 4 years from when I wrote about boybands lmao. I made this because I couldn't find a fanfic that matched everything I was looking for! So if you're into some kinky shit, and watching Keith suffer (With a happy ending and some cuddly fluff of course), this is the story for you. 
> 
> Comments are much appreciated! They make me want to continue writing (₌ㅇᆽㅇ₌)  
> Also bear in mind that I am in my final year of high school but I will try to make updates as regular as I can!
> 
> I don't own any of the characters in this story, all belong to the creators of Voltron: Legendary Defender. I suggest a 16+ audience for sensitive content and potential trigger warnings.

Keith’s head was throbbing when he opened his eyes, squinting from his place on the tiled floor at the panel of lights on the ceiling. He struggled to sit up with his wrists bound to his chest, and leaned his face towards his hands to pull free the piece of material gagging him, discarding it on the floor next to him. 

He took a moment to take in his situation, fear rising in his chest as his eyes scanned the small room. Grey metal walls surrounded him where he sat on the black-tiled floor, a bare metal ledge that he assumed was a bed lined one wall, and a heavy door was imbedded in the opposite wall. He was wearing nothing but his skin-tight black body suit that usually had his armour on top of it, and material bounds on his wrists and around his chest, too tight to squirm out of. 

With his legs unbound, Keith rolled onto his knees and stood up from the floor, hands still bound, and sat on the ledge. Taking a deep breath, he tried to remember the events that led him to this situation. He remembered an alert for a Galra ship in close range, and being so overwhelmed by fighter ships that him and the other paladins weren’t able to form Voltron in time. He remembered a beam of light blinding him, coming from the main ship drawing him in along with his lion, and he must have passed out after that, because the rest of the memory was cut short. 

Keith huffed, still struggling in his bounds, and wondered if his friends were captured too, or if they were on their way to rescue him. He let the back of his head hit the wall behind him, and closed his eyes. 

His moment of peace was abruptly interrupted by a screeching metallic sound, the door to the room swinging open almost hard enough to dent the wall it hit. Keith flinched back in reflex, and scooted on the bench to the far corner, looking around desperately for a weapon to defend himself with. Two Galra soldiers in armour, as faceless as the rest of them, strode across the small room and grabbed Keith by his wrists, violently dragging him to his feet and shoving him out the door, without saying a word.

Their pace was fast as they were much taller than Keith, who almost had to jog to keep up with how they were pulling him along, his bare feet uncomfortable on the cold metal floor. Keith tried to look around, to recognise or try and remember his way around the ship, but a guard shoved his head down. With his eyes trained to the floor, the guards and their prisoner arrived at a large double-door, and Keith wondered who the captain of the ship might be. It was a small enough ship not to be anyone important, right? 

Keith was unceremoniously shoved into the room, hearing the heavy metal doors close behind him as he hit the ground, groaning in pain as his hands jabbed into his chest. He rolled onto his side, and scanned his new environment. The room was much larger, easily the biggest room of the ship, with high ceilings and a window looking out into space lining the entire wall in front of him. Keith froze when he spotted the throne overlooking the window.

Zarkon’s throne room? He didn’t fight Zarkon’s ship. Was he transported there, while he was unconscious? 

Keith scrambled to his feet the best he could, and backed into the wall next to the door he came through. He started trebling. He wasn’t prepared to fight Zarkon, bound in material and without armour or weapons. He looked around again for something to pick up and wield at his kidnapper, searching frantically with his eyes until he heard a low laugh coming from one side of the room.

Zarkon emerged, notifying Keith of his presence. He was fully clad in battle armour, walking slowly but confidently over to Keith, who was thrumming with anxiety. He was larger in person. Discarding his usual cocky confidence in the fight-or-flight situation, still drowsy and confused, Keith braced his hands to cover his face, turning his head to the side, and closed his eyes.

Keith heard the same low, amused chuckle - this time much closer, and flinched when he felt a hand touch his face, caressing him. It wasn’t the same as a human touch, Zarkon’s hand was cold and calloused, thick scaly skin uncomfortable against his own smooth cheek. Keith held in a whimper.

“Young paladin, open your eyes. Look at your master.”

Keith reluctantly opened his eyes, but refused to look at the Galra, staring at his own hands instead. His chin was roughly yanked up and he let out the whimper he had been holding, as he looked at the empty purple eyes of the most powerful man in the universe. Another low laugh.

“You know, I’ve had my eye on you for a while. Not only are you a fine specimen in terms of looks, there’s something about you that just makes me want to break you, to find out how delicate your species is.”

Keith glared at his kidnapper, not giving him the satisfaction of replying to him. He tried to back further into the wall behind him. 

Zarkon’s tone shifted from playful to something darker. “But first, I think a lesson in respect is needed.”

______________

Lance paced back and forth, running his fingers through his hair nervously as he waited for news. All of the paladins were on edge since the red lion along with Keith were captured, and how the whole fleet retreated as if they had gotten what they came for. Lance’s breath caught in his throat as Shiro’s face came up on the screen. “Sorry guys, there's nothing out here. The ship isn’t even close.”

It had been almost a day, in Earth time, since it happened. Shiro was surveying the wreckage in his lion and searching for Galran ships in close range, but it seemed he was going to come back empty handed. 

Hunk and Pidge were busy working on tracking the ship, Allura was fixing the damage on their own castle, and Coran was poorly attempting to calm Lance down, who was almost ready to break down and cry.

He snapped out of it when he saw static come up on the screen, anticipating something from Shiro - when Zarkon’s looming face appear in front of him, an ugly smirk on his mouth. Lance shrieked and jumped back, alerting Hunk and Pidge, who’s expressions were evidently surprised at the sudden appearance of their nemesis. “Paladins, I want to make a deal.”, Zarkon’s gruff booming voice filled their ears. “I’m sure you’ve noticed that you’re missing a lion.”

Lance glared at the figure in front of him, his lips set in a straight line, trying to keep his composure. “Forget the lion for now, where is  
Keith?”

“Ah, the Red Paladin. Keith, is it? A fine name, but not appropriate for a Galran slave. He will be called Keithial,” Zarkon laughed.

Lance, along with the princess and other paladins, gawked at these words. Allura spoke up first. “What is this deal that you mentioned?” 

Lance wondered how she could be so calm at the moment when his mind was racing at a hundred miles a varga. Keith had been kidnapped and enslaved by the most powerful man in the known universe. Keith wouldn’t go down without a fight, and he was capable of fighting, but what condition was he in? The last he heard from Keith, he was screaming into the coms until his voice was cut short by static.

Zarkon’s voice snapped Lance out of his train of thought. “Which do you value more, the life of your red paladin, or the most powerful weapon in the universe? I want the black lion, in exchange for your paladin. I will keep the red lion. And if you refuse, I’ll be keeping the red paladin too.” The image flickered from the screen and disappeared, before anyone had a chance to respond. They all stood in silence.


	2. Tortured

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zarkon's plan begins

Zarkon clicked the camera off, sighing as he leant back into his throne and smiled. His plan was falling into place quite easily. He knew Allura wouldn't sacrifice Voltron for a mere replaceable paladin, and knew the rest of the paladins would fight to get their pilot back. Ripping a hole in their dynamic, getting them to fight and be afraid and anxious, that's what Zarkon wanted. 

He gazed across the room at the red paladin, now strung to the ceiling by a chain around his wrists, his feet barely touching the floor. His black bodysuit discarded, the boy's pale skin was on show - a tight pair of black briefs was the only article hiding his body from his kidnapper's view.

Zarkon stood up, and walked over to his new possession, who's eyes were cast to the floor. "You're human, yes? I've done my research on you."

Keith remained silent. 

"Not very talkative, huh. I'm curious, Keithial, how thick is a human's skin? How deep would I have to cut, in order to draw blood?" Keith trembled as Zarcon drew a line with his claw across his collarbone, small droplets of blood rising from the cut. "Not very deep at all. Such fragile creatures," Zarkon mused. 

He removed his hand and circled Keith, almost like a predictor, admiring the young man's body. He let his hands roam across Keith's stomach, along his defined muscles, and tracing the line of thin hair that led from his belly button to the top of his briefs. Keith let out a startled gasp.

"Don't worry young one, I'm curious, but we can get to that later," Zarkon hummed, "First I want to punish you for that disrespect you showed me earlier."

Zarkon turned his back and walked over to a grand bed that Keith couldn't believe he didn't see earlier. It was equivalent to a king-sized bed, even bigger, covered in purple and black sheets and pillows, framed by black curtains. It was pushed into a far corner, with a black chest at the foot of it, which Zarkon was walking towards. When he reached the foot of the bed he looked back at Keith, caught him staring at the bed and smirked. "You'll have to earn your way here." He gestured towards the bed, and Keith felt sick. He felt even more sick when Zarkon opened the chest and pulled out a handful of whips. He recognised a flogger, the rest were various alien-versions of tassels and leather and anything that would hurt if Keith's skin was hit with it. Keith tried in vain to cover his body, closing his eyes and trying to breathe at a normal pace.

Zarkon huffed, amused. "I was really expecting you to put up more of a fight, but you're actually quite pathetic."

A fight? In his condition? How was he supposed to fight back, bound to the ceiling, almost naked and without a weapon or anything to defend himself with? Keith glared at the man approaching him. 

"You need to learn how to use words, Keithial. I can teach you that." Keith cringed at the new name, sounding too Galran. 

Zarkon pulled out one of the whips and set the others down. Keith was shivering at this point, anticipating what was about to come. The one Zarkon had chosen was much like a cat-o-nine tails - a thick leather handle with leather tassels attached, designed to tear up flesh. Keith was too busy staring at the whip that he didn't notice when it came down on his back for the first time. 

He missed Zarkon's expression when he screamed out in agony, rattling against his chains and squeezing his eyes shut painfully. It was worse than he had expected. A low, grumbling laugh came from his captor, who was happy by this reaction. The following hits brought the same response from Keith, who stopped counting after about seven blows. His rattling stopped as he bowed his head in submission when he felt wetness rolling down his back, his front still untouched. Keith did not know if he wanted to throw up or pass out. His feisty demeanor was put on hold, as he thought of the torture he was yet to face. 

As a way to dull out the pain, Keith's mind wandered to the others who were back in the castle, safe, where they belonged. He thought of what would have happened if one of them were in his situation. He thought of Shiro who had been so scarred from the Galra before, he thought of how kind Hunk was, and innocent Pidge was, and didn't even want to imagine either of them in this kind of danger. Lance had a mouth on him, and would probably get himself into more trouble than he was worth. So, Keith thought, if any of the paladins had to be kidnapped, enslaved and tortured - he was glad it was him. He was strong-willed, a fighter, resilient. These were Keith's last thoughts before his eyes rolled back, and lost consciousness from the pain and shock.  
___________

Keith’s eyes fluttered open, he felt a wave of Deja vu as he squinted at the lights above him in the small cell he woke up in previously. Instead of being on the floor this time, he was laying on the ledge that ran along one wall, on his side. He was thankful for this when he felt his wounds rub against his shirt when he shifted. Shirt? Keith noticed he was no longer naked, but his briefs were gone, and he had been given a baggy grey shirt. The sleeves stopped just past his elbows, and the hem covered enough of him, probably falling half way down his thighs if he stood up, which he had no intention of doing. At least his bounds were gone, and he could move his wrists freely.

Keith felt disgusting, covered in his own sweat and blood. His head was pounding, mouth dry, and with every shift or movement his back throbbed in agony. He tried to hold back tears, as he couldn’t help but feel sorry for himself. 

He didn’t know how much time had passed since he was first abducted; he couldn’t even tell how long ago he was strung to the ceiling and tortured. This time when the door to the room opened he welcomed it, wishing to be anywhere but the hard metal ledge that bruised his skin every time he shifted. 

He didn’t even look at the guards this time, didn’t attempt to look at his surroundings – he learned from before that it was best to keep his eyes downcast on his bare feet as he was led to the throne room again. This time, he wasn’t shoved through the doors, instead Zarkon met them at the door and led Keith into the room. If his back wasn’t aching, if he wasn’t dying from thirst and if he was wearing his armour – Keith would have put up a fight. But right now, the odds were against him. 

He let Zarkon take him over to the large bed in the corner, not thinking twice before he fell face-first into the smooth covers, letting out a breath he had been holding in. Zarkon laughed, but this time it was softer, more comforting than attacking. Keith still flinched when the taller man dragged his fingers through his hair, caressing the part of his head that his headache resided. Zarkon left for a moment – Keith couldn’t tell for how long – and returned with a few different things. Water was brought to his mouth, which he accepted gratefully, but was more adamant about the pills being pressed against his lips. “For the pain.” was Zarkon’s only explanation, but it was good enough for Keith to swallow them. The red paladin fell in and out of consciousness – half because of the pain and exhaustion, and half because of how comfortable and inviting the bed was. During this time, his shirt was removed and Zarkon started treating and bandaging the cuts on his back.

Why was he doing this? Surely he had a healer or another slave, whose job it was to take care of him, a lowly prisoner. But Zarkon’s calloused rough hands carefully applied serum and bandages, wrapping them around his torso and laying him back down. 

Before Keith let his eyes slip shut again, Zarkon kneeled down beside him. “Can you see now, Keithial? I am in control of you, your life is in my hands. I can break you down and put you back together as much as I want. I am capable of punishing you for your actions, but you can find comfort and healing in no one else but me. I am your master.” 

Keith nodded weakly, deciding to think more about it later, and his head pressed deeper into the pillows as he fell asleep.   
____________

Keith woke up in much the same position as he fell asleep, but was much more aware of his surroundings this time. Including how he was wearing no clothes.

Keith jumped, trying not to move his back too much, as he wrapped the nearest black blanket around his body. He was alone in the throne room. Keith planned out his next action.

With the blanket still wrapped around his torso, Keith shakily stood up. Apart from the bed and throne, the large room was relatively bare. A control panel sat in front of the throne, overlooking the wall that was lined with glass, overlooking the universe. Keith stayed away from the window. First, in an attempt to arm himself, Keith went over to the chest at the foot of the bed that he had seen Zarkon draw whips from. Running his fingers along the lid, he was met with a keyhole and cursed to himself. Zarkon would undoubtedly hold the key somewhere on his body, which was a task for Keith to find later. Next, he made his way over to the control panel. He saw Zarkon talking to the other paladins, right before he was tortured, so there had to be a way to contact them through it. Keith’s eyes scanned across the various switches and buttons. He knew how the one back in the castle worked, but the Galran symbols on the buttons were unrecognisable. Another task for later – learn how to read Galran. 

Keith huffed as he threw himself back onto the comfortable bed, much better than the metal ledge in that small room on the other side of the ship. He decided that if he wanted to stay sane and healthy, he would have to convince Zarkon to let him stay there. He remembered Zarkon’s words from earlier - "You'll have to earn your way here." If he had to act obedient to keep himself from rotting away in a metal cell, Keith was willing to do whatever he had to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters in one day wooaahh I'm enjoying this way more than I should be  
> Thanks for your beautiful comments っゝω・)っ～☆


	3. Modified

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zarkon isn't completely satisfied with his new slave. Meanwhile, Lance is freaking out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!  
> Looks like I'll be updating this pretty much daily, since I'm enjoying it so much.  
> No warnings for this chapter - its not too bad compared to what is yet to come.  
> Enjoy (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧.

Lance was officially freaking out. He was back to pacing, but this time back in his own room – as soon as Zarkon’s image disappeared from the screen, he ran straight to his room like a little kid during a thunderstorm. He didn’t think anything like this would happen, he thought they’d always have each other’s backs and no one would get seriously hurt, but at the battle scene there were too many fighter ships to know what was going on – and he didn’t even notice Keith being captured until it was too late. Ever since that moment, Lance had thought of every possible way he could have prevented it – from pushing Keith out of the way, to making Keith stay in the castle during the battle. Lance sighed as he slumped onto his bed, his face falling into his hands. 

He could hear yelling. He figured Allura would abandon Keith, keep the black lion and find a new red paladin. But what about the red lion? They couldn’t form Voltron, but without the black lion their enemy would have half of their weapon. Lance’s head was spinning with anxiety. 

In order to make his input, which was that they should definitely rescue Keith, Lance returned to the control room. 

“We’re supposed to be a team that trusts each other, and you want to desert Keith?!” Pidge was strutting across the room yelling most of her arguments at Allura, who was standing against her just as strongly. “I’m afraid it’s our best option, Pidge,” Allura tried to remain calm, “and I am opposed to it just as much as you. But we can’t afford to sacrifice the black lion to its original owner.”

Pidge let out a noise of disapproval, sitting back down. “You were kidnapped and we got you back just fine without losing any lions. How is this any different?!”

“Because we’re missing a lion to begin with,” Shiro stepped in, “so if we try to rescue Keith we can’t form Voltron. It would be 4 lions against Zarkon’s fleet. It’s too risky.”

Hunk, who was trying to stay as far away from the argument as possible, nervously joined in. “But Shiro, Keith is one of us. He’s had our back before, and I know if one of us were in that situation, we’d be counting on him to help us. He’s alone with Zarkon, he could be tortured or worse… and I don’t want to put him through that. In my opinion flesh and blood is more important than a hunk of metal.”

Allura gawked at him. “That hunk of metal happens to be the only thing keeping Zarkon from overtaking the universe, and doing to everyone what he is doing to Keith. One sacrifice for the good of the universe.”

“If we could get away without any sacrifices, that would be helpful!” Coran interjected, “We can figure out a way to get both the red lion and Keith back safely. We just need some time to think.”  
_______

Zarkon strode into the throne room, in grey armour this time instead of his red battle armour. Keith looked up at him from his place on the bed, but quickly looked back down at his own hands, too intimidated to face the figure now. Zarkon approached the bed, and Keith shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. 

“Keithial, there are still so many things I don’t know about the human body yet,” Zarkon said quietly as he sat on the bed, “and I intend to discover them today. Will you behave?”

Keith nodded slowly, not sure what the Galran had in mind. Zarkon seemed pleased by this response and before Keith knew what was going on, two golden cuffs were around his wrists, and a magnetic force pinned his wrists together. Keith gasped in shock, unable to fight off Zarkon from chaining his hands to the headboard. Keith brought his leg up to try and knee or kick his captor, but Zarkon caught his attacks and abruptly chained each of his ankles to chains on opposite corners of the foot of the bed. 

Keith realised how vulnerable he was, naked and chained to a bed, and his mind went to the worst thing that Zarkon could do to him. He started yelling, thrashing around violently trying to get Zarkon away from him and trying to cover his body. “HELP! LANCE, SHIRO, PLEASE HELP-”

Zarkon covered Keith’s mouth with his scaly hand. “Now, when I said I wanted you to speak more, I didn’t mean like that.” Keith was shivering now, and stilled his movements. “I want to establish a rule. You will call me Master at all times. If I ask you to do something, you will reply with ‘yes master’, and you will end all of your sentences with ‘master’ when you are talking to me. Do you understand, Keithial?”

Keith hesitated at first, still trying to cross his legs to cover his lower half. In his moment of silence Zarkon slapped him on his left cheek, not as hard as he could have, but Keith still stared back at the Galran man in shock. “Uh, y-yes master,” He stuttered out his reply, his cheek growing red. 

Zarkon placed a hand on his chest, and Keith tried his best not to violently flinch away. The rough cold hand circled his muscles, groped his collarbones, traced across a sensitive nipple. Keith closed his eyes, letting out a small sound when Zarkon touched his other nipple, playing with the nub between his cold finger and thumb. “Only the female Galra have these. I’ve always found them quite amusing, how sensitive they are. Yours are a beautiful pink, Keithial.” Keith ignored the compliment and tried to steady his breathing. The large hand traveled down his stomach the way it had when he was strung to the ceiling. But this time, it didn’t stop above his pubic hairs. Keith quivered when Zarkon’s hands roamed across his hips, his thighs – avoiding the place that Keith was the most nervous about. He traveled further down, tracing his nails against his plump thighs. 

“Such beautiful smooth skin, such a wonderful pale colour. But I’ll have to get this hair removed.” Zarkon gestured to his legs and the tuft of thin black hair above his cock, which he kept trimmed. If that’s all the modifications he wanted to make to Keith’s body, he was glad. 

Zarkon’s hands moved beneath him to grope his buttocks, and Keith willed himself to relax, but couldn’t help but try to squirm away. Zarkon chuckled. “So smooth and plump compared to Galra females.” He removed his hand, and swiftly grasped Keith’s cock, palming him. Keith squirmed again, this time speaking up, “No please, not there….” 

A hard slap was delivered to Keith’s inner thigh and he yelped out in pain. “Your master can do whatever he wants with you, Keithial. And you forgot my rule from before.”

Keith stuttered out a “S-Sorry Master”, and Zarkon continued to touch him, slowly groping him into hardness. Keith’s cheeks flushed – no one had touched him here before except for himself. He squeezed his thighs shut as much as he could. Keith squeaked when Zarkon’s other hand traveled down to cup his balls, massaging them between his fingers, and Keith held in a noise of pleasure. 

“A laughable size,” Zarkon chuckled, “compared to a Galran such as me. Your sex organs are pathetic. It seems you were born to play a submissive role, weren’t you?” Keith glared at him. A mixture of fear and shock was keeping him mostly flaccid, and Zarkon didn’t seem too happy about that. “Still, if you were completely submissive, I would have control over every aspect of your body. That is something else I want to modify.” 

Modify? Keith shuddered at the word. Modify, like they had done to Shiro’s arm? 

Zarkon removed his hand, and lazily threw a blanket over Keith’s bottom half. “I’m going to send someone in to have a look at your body, and change it to my liking. Don’t be afraid, when it’s over you’ll be the perfect specimen.” 

Keith panicked, rattling his hands against the gold metal cuffs, trying free his limbs, as he helplessly watched the larger man leave the room, the door closing behind him. Keith’s breathing quickened. Other Galra were going to touch him, experiment on him, mess with his body. He thought back to Shiro’s arm – amputated below the shoulder, a Galra-tech metal one replaced it. He remembered tracing the scar tissue above where it was attached, the skin was red and distressed compared to the rest of his arm. Shiro said he wasn’t awake through it until the end. But Shiro was modified to become a weapon – his arm was a gift for defeating opponents in the ring. Keith was being modified because his body displeased Zarkon. So it wouldn’t be that drastic… right?

Keith heard the door open and footsteps coming over to the bed, he craned his head from the bed to see who it was. They looked like witches, about six of them, in long purple cloaks with gold detailing. Keith didn’t notice the needle one of them was holding until it was in his neck, making him yell and flinch – but darkness came quicker than he expected, and he passed out.  
________

_Keith had experienced this feeling before. It was like he was awake, but trapped inside of his own body. He remembered a time back on the castle ship, only a few days since they had left Earth. The reality of the situation they were in suddenly dawned on Keith, who was in his bedroom. He may never make it back home, he may die in battle, he may watch his friends die in battle. The whole universe was on his shoulders, and it was too much for Keith._

_It started off as a panic attack, that grew more severe the longer it went on. He was balled up in a corner, arms hugging his knees close to his chest as tears streamed down his face – but his mind was somewhere else. Keith’s body was numb. He couldn’t feel the ground below him, the warmth of his own skin, the clothes on his body. His mind was crowded with thoughts of anxiety and fear and death – he bit his lip so hard that it split and blood spilled into his mouth, down his chin._

_Shiro was the one who found him, shaking with his eyes squeezed shut. Shiro talked him back to reality and numbed his anxiety, pumped the blood back into his veins, allowed him to think straight again._

He was feeling that now, like he wasn’t inside of his own body. He heard the metallic drilling sounds around him, and saw harsh flashing through his closed eyelids, but his body was numb and motionless. But Shiro wasn’t there.

His brain couldn’t put together where he was, what he was doing there. He felt a dull ache of pain in his groin. It was a strange state of consciousness, like he was just on the brink of sleep that he was vaguely aware of his surroundings, but he wasn’t cognitive enough to understand it. 

He saw another spark of light through his closed eyes, before he felt himself slipping into unconsciousness again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember that comments make me really happy and make me want to continue writing ;u;


	4. Experimented

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some warnings for this chapter - body modification, blood, non-con.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to post this yesterday but I wanted to make it a bit longer! Enjoy \\(´・ω・`)/

Keith was sick of waking up in different places, feeling the familiar throbbing in his head, the harsh lights above him making him want to squint. He was back in the small metal cell, lying on his back on the ledge. It seemed that his back had healed – whatever serum Zarkon had applied, it worked. He was wearing the baggy grey shirt he was given, but it took Keith a moment to notice the bandages just below his bellybutton, above his crotch. He shakily touched the bandages, remembering how Zarkon wished to ‘modify’ him, and vaguely remembered being taken into some kind of surgery. He had no memory of the rest. 

Unable to even sit up with the amount of pain it would probably cause, Keith lay there in silence, completely and utterly helpless. 

It would have been hours later, that two guards emerged through the door. This time there was no yanking or restraints – they helped Keith sit up, and he willingly walked alongside them to the throne room, although this time slower and with a limp. The pain wasn’t so bad, he must have been healing for a few days. Whenever Keith thought about what might reside under the bandages on his stomach, he felt sick. 

His ‘Master’ greeted him once he was through the doors. Keith felt dizzy as he was lead over to a familiar bed and lay down, Zarkon sitting on the side of the bed. Zarkon gently ran his hand over the bandages. “Shall I unwrap my present?”

The gold cuffs were still on Keith, and he turned his head to the side into the pillows as Zarkon chained him to the headboard the same way he had done before. His shirt was removed, and Keith quivered with the anxiety of seeing the wound. Zarkon started to unbandage him, and Keith spent the whole time with his eyes squeezed shut.

He heard a chuckle from above him. “It’s _perfect_. Look, Keithial.” So Keith looked.

Imbedded in a section of his torso below his bellybutton, no bigger than a postcard, was a metal panel. Keith, with horror, observed the welded skin where metal met stomach – red and angry, irritated at the intruder. The panel looked like steel, and had four buttons down the center horizontally, each with a different Galran character on them. Keith wished he could read Galran. At the thought of those buttons controlling his body in some way, Keith wanted to faint. 

Zarkon lightly traced his fingers over the buttons, not hard enough to press them yet, but it still made Keith tense up. “Now, you’re all mine.” 

A searing mixture of pain and pleasure went through Keith’s abdomen as Zarkon pressed down on one of the buttons. His muscles constricted and he felt it hard to breathe, as he felt blood rush to his soft cock. It twitched as it hardened, faster than normal. Keith looked up at his captor, stunned and embarrassed, shock evident on his face with his mouth open. Zarkon let out a low laugh at the reaction. _“Jalkar,”_ He read the character on the button, “Erect.” Keith let out a low whine as he became fully erect, the glistening head resting on his groin just below the panel, enthusiastically dripping pre-cum already. “You refused to do it before, so I took matters into my own hands.”

Zarkon’s rough hand wrapped around his cock and squeezed, rubbing his thumb around the head as he pleasured Keith. His cock was so small in comparison to his hand – Zarkon was careful not to squeeze too hard, or catch it with his claws. Keith tried his best to keep in the noises. In a rush of anger and embarrassment Keith yelled “Get the fuck off me!”, followed by violently thrashing around, managing to knee Zarkon in the side. Zarkon’s grip remained, and his other hand calmly came up to push his chest down into the mattress, his claws extending as a threat. Keith stilled, remembering his position of weakness.

“Feisty little one. I’ll enjoy seeing you come undone in my hands.” He grumbled.

Keith tried to block out what was going on, his face pressed into the pillow beside him, facing away from the Galran. His discomfort of the situation dulled his arousal, which seemed to displease his master. Without warning, Zarkon pressed another button. Keith screamed as a painful orgasm was ripped from him, his back arching off the bed as cum splattered across the hand and his stomach. The liquid burned his insides, balls tightening painfully as his cock twitched uncontrollably. It lasted longer than normal, and when Keith looked down, in horror, he saw a puddle of blood and cum on his stomach and smeared across the metal panel. He suddenly felt exhausted as he fell back to the mattress, staring at the ceiling with hooded eyes. That was not what an orgasm should feel like.

 _“Vupsur,”_ Zarkon marveled at Keith’s performance, “ejaculate.”

Keith’s eyebrows knitted together as he whined, realization dawning on him. He was being turned into a human sex toy. A personal flesh-light for Zarkon’s use. He definitely did not want to learn what the other two buttons did. Keith watched in disgust as Zarkon licked his hand clean. “The first few times will be quite painful, given your surgery was recent. But you will get used to it, pet. And you will enjoy it.” 

Keith glared at him, a weak scowl set on his lips. Zarkon chuckled at his attempt to look menacing. “I almost forgot about how you disrespected me earlier, I thought you knew better. I think you need a reminder, about how little power you have over me. And how much of it I have over you, Keithial.”

Keith held in words that were ready to anxiously tumble from his lips as Zarkon reached down to the sticky metal panel, pressing the erect button once more. Keith’s head fell back into his pillows as blood was forced to his groin, and he groaned at the sensitivity. After a moment, Zarkon pressed the third button excitedly, like playing with a new toy. Keith felt the muscles in his stomach and dick tighten uncomfortably, against his own will. 

Before he could protest, a tape gag was across his mouth. When or from where Zarkon had gotten it was a mystery, but Keith had other things to worry about. Zarkon was leaving. 

Yelling out through his gag in anger, Keith rattled the chains around his ankles, and tried to cover his raging boner by lifting his knees up. Zarkon hummed in amusement as he turned around, already at the door.

 _“Ruvsip,”_ his gruff voice boomed across the room, “Constrict. I will be back when you have been adequately punished.”  
_______

There was a frenzied chaos back at The Castle of Lions, which was noticeably missing a lion. Everyone was working on their own projects, all with the same objective – to get Keith and the lion back by any means, without sacrificing the black lion. 

Pidge was hacking security and records of every ship that entered and left Zarkon’s main ship – incase Keith was taken elsewhere, and they could attack during the move. Allura was working with Hunk trying to track the exact location of the Red lion on the ship. Shiro had been in the training room for a few hours, and even Coran was collecting space junk to piece together a counterfeit black lion in case they needed it. Lance was currently doing what he did best – freaking out. He had actually locked himself in Keith’s bedroom, not knowing why, but knowing that he had to be in there to keep himself from going insane. 

He felt nothing but guilt and regret. Mostly at the way their battle went, but even the things that he said and done before that. Thinking that the worst would happen to Keith, and that he may never see the red paladin, Lance mentally took back and apologized for every insult he had directed at him in the past. He threw himself dramatically onto Keith’s bed, exhausted from all the drama circulating their lives for the past week. 

Meanwhile, Shiro’s hand sliced through the last training dummy of level 8. “Begin round 9!”

Anxiety never went down well with Shiro, and he dealt with it the only way he knew how. He had done all he could for now, practically useless to the others. He was still very much sitting on the fence. Losing the black lion to Zarkon wasn’t an option. But to save Keith? The boy who he had met so young, and grew to his hip like a lost puppy from the beginning? Who he trained, who he loved, who pulled him from the wreckage of a Galran ship back on Earth? 

Shiro’s train of thought stopped when a number of armored dummies wielding different weapons approached him, and his ears filled with the clashing of his Galran hand against their metal bodies.  
_______

Keith was feverish. He felt like his whole body was on fire, covered in a sheen layer of sweat, trembling uncontrollably. But that was nothing compared to his cock, swollen and red against his lower abdomen, twitching as pre-cum dripped from the glistening tip. His hair was damp with sweat and flared out on the pillow below him, his head thrown back in pain and pleasure. His breaths were quick through the gag, eyes squeezed shut whimpering at the overstimulation. Dry orgasms came within minutes of each other, each one becoming more painful. Keith was so hard and ready to cum, but the constricting muscles in his abdomen and groin denied him, like an invisible elastic band on the base of his cock.

It had to have been hours, days, since it started. Every minute ticked on forever – Keith was crying and sobbing for his master to come back and free him, to let him cum. Zarkon didn’t return until Keith was curled onto his side, on the brink of passing out.

He strode into the room confidently, wearing his usual smirk and letting out a low chuckle. “Ready to behave?”

Keith heard these words through the ringing in his ears, and stared pleadingly at the man with tears in his eyes, his face wet with tears and saliva. His master removed his gag. “Please! Please master please, I’m sorry, I’m sorry please let me-“ 

Zarkon dragged the palm of his hand from Keith’s damp chest down past his abdomen as a unsatisfying dry orgasm was ripped from Keith again. Zarkon’s hand hovered over the buttons on the panel, circling the last one. _“Lupdra,”_ , he said under his breath – just loud enough for Keith to hear – “Release.”

Keith’s body convulsed as he felt a warmth rising from his balls through to the tip of his cock, which Zarkon had grabbed onto, and he felt his muscles finally release, an orgasm forced out of him again, taking the tension along with it. Keith sobbed and closed his eyes as he ejaculated, semen splattering across the already dirty metal panel, his stomach, and even as high as his chest. Keith couldn’t control the noises and words that came from him, but he recalled saying ‘Master’ more than he consciously wanted to. Keith observed the sweat, cum and a smaller amount of blood settled on his body, as Zarkon released his restraints and pulled the smaller boy to his chest.

Keith’s body went lax with Zarkon’s soothing whispering into his ear, telling him how good he was, how well he had done, how beautiful he was.


	5. Comforted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, this chapter features my own original art! Thanks to my friend Alex for helping me design it, and thanks to all of you for your support! I love to read all of your comments! ᶘ ᵒᴥᵒᶅ

The next events for Keith were a blur. Zarkon had carried him to a sort of Galran bathroom that had a wide circular imbedded bath in the middle, and he felt a little less sick when he was placed in the warm soothing water. Another Galran, a prisoner judging by their clothing, wiped him down with a cloth from his oily hair to his dirty bare feet. A prisoner was serving him? Wasn’t he a slave..? Keith briefly wondered if the panel was waterproof, and secretly hoped he would be electrocuted by it. He let his eyes slip shut as he rested his head on the edge of the tub, feeling at ease for the first time in ages. 

Keith was lifted out of the tub when his skin began to shrivel up like a prune, and he was wrapped in a large white towel, and lead to a different room. Keith lost track of where he was on the ship, all of the rooms and corridors looking the same as he padded down them with bare feet, Zarkon on one side and a guard on the other. Keith was met by more prisoners when he entered the next room, which contained a few tables with objects on them, chairs, and a full-length mirror. Keith looked at Zarkon warily. 

“Now that you’re biologically the perfect specimen, you have to look the part. I can’t be seen with a dirty commoner, Keithial.”

Keith stood passively as he was dressed, feeling cold metal against his arms and neck, and a cold shiver pass through his body as half of his body was left exposed. Keith squeaked as he was forced into a chair and a burst of pain went through both of his ear lobes at once – but before he could flinch his master’s hand was on his head, keeping him still. They were piercing his ears.

A bowl of black steaming goop sat in a bowl on the table next to him, and he eyed it cautiously. Zarkon seemed to notice. “I heard this was a human tradition, actually. It’s applied to the skin, it hardens, and is ripped off quickly to remove hair.” Keith looked at his master in shock. They wanted to wax him? “I said to you before, Keithial, that I wanted to do something about your body hair.”

Before he could protest, and partly too afraid to speak back to Zarkon, Keith squirmed in his chair when the hot substance was applied to his arms and legs first, by a team of prisoners. While they were doing this, Keith observed them – their ankles were chained together with about a foot of chain in between them but their hands were free, all of them were different species, none of which he recognised, and all of them seemed absorbed in the task with no means of running away. Keith guessed there was nowhere to run, with the emperor of the universe in the same room.

Keith yelled out as the wax was ripped off him without warning. He drew his arms up to his chest, cradling himself, and curled his legs up close to his body. He did not expect to hurt that much, as his limbs stung a violent red, and felt itchy. The trail of hair from his bellybutton followed, and his pubic hair was thankfully only trimmed carefully with a blade. 

Then, Keith was directed towards a mirror, and he was finally able to see himself. The first thing he noticed was how skinny he was, and the second was how pale he was. Dark circles hung under his grey eyes, his eyebrows were knitted together in a distressed expression, and his hair was long and unkept. How long had he been here? Only a week or two, right?

Keith then noticed the outfit he had been put in. A long white loin cloth was the only material on him, his upper half kept almost entirely bare, as well as his feet. Keith grimaced as his eyes travelled upwards and he noted the panel, surrounding skin still red and angry. His gold magnetic wrist cuffs were still there, like a reminder that he could be restrained at any moment. Matching jewelry covered his arms – thick heavy golden bangles on both sides, similar to the one around his neck, which had decorative gold chains hanging off his shoulders that followed around to the back of the collar. A round metal loop hung in the front of the collar, and Keith shivered when he realised it was there for a leash to hang off. Golden hoop earrings, large enough to dangle half way to his shoulders, hung from each of his ears. Finally, a golden band, not quite a crown, sat loosely on his head.

Keith’s first thought was that he looked like some kind of Greek goddess. For a slave, Zarkon had overdressed him. 

Zarkon led him back to the throne room, and for the first time since he had been there, Keith didn’t feel disgusting. A little cold, but not covered in sweat or grime or other substances he’d rather not think about. The door closed behind them, and Zarkon turned to him. Keith fiddled with his finders, his eyes trained to the floor. 

“You look like you were born to serve me, Keithial.”

Keith’s cheeks burned red as he tried to look everywhere but at the man’s face. A gentle hand pulled Keith’s jaw up as Zarkon took a step closer to him. Keith’s breath caught. He had been getting too comfortable around his captor, too embracing of the rewards he gave Keith – he hadn’t even thought or schemed of escaping. He was right where Zarkon wanted him. As Keith stared into the taller man’s empty purple eyes, he thought of the kind of slave Zarkon would want. Submissive, never defiant. Clingy, vulnerable, obedient- everything Keith was not. Well, not before he came to this ship. He was being softened, and the only way to avoid it was to pretend. To give Zarkon what he wanted, but remaining the same snarky cocky fighter he was on the inside. To act like the most obedient slave Zarkon could ever ask for, while gathering as much information he could to eventually escape the ship and go back to where he belonged. 

Keith thought back to his team, and felt a pang of sadness and betrayal. They hadn’t come for him, they must have decided to keep the black lion and dessert him. But even so, half of his heart lay back in The Castle of Lions – in Lance and Shiro. Sure, the others were great, but he didn’t share the same bond with them. Shiro had been his mentor, his teacher, his older brother. And Lance, apart from being incredibly annoying, had pushed him to do his best at the Garrison, and helped him open up and make friends, to love and to be loved. 

He didn’t notice he was daydreaming until Zarkon gripped his neck and attached a length of chain to his collar, quietly leading him over to the throne in the center of them room.

“Now, as much as I don’t want to do this, my pet, I have to make an example out of you. A sort of incentive, I’d call it.”

Unaware of what he meant Keith obediently followed, until he was roughly shoved to the floor in front of the throne, landing on his hands and knees. “Stay.”

Zarkon slumped into the chair, his armored legs swinging over Keith’s body, heavily resting his feet on Keith’s back. Straining under the weight, Keith felt ridiculous. It was the kind of picture you’d see in children’s books, depicting how cruelly kings treated their servants. Keith adjusted his position under his master, growing uncomfortable. He heard the electronic whir of the screen starting up, and the click of Zarkon turning his camera on.  
___________

_It was almost midnight at the Garrison. Shiro had just finished writing a report he needed for teaching his class the next morning and was headed to his dorm, absolutely exhausted, when he saw a familiar flash of black hair turn a corner in front of him. Shiro was taken back for a moment, remembering that it was midnight and that all students had curfew, until he realised who it might be and he chuckled. Shiro quietly turned the corner, following the figure._

_He heard Keith sigh when he threw open the door and breathed in the fresh night air on the roof of the main building. He kept the door open as he continued forward, right until he was on the edge of the roof, where he sat down and swung his legs off the ledge beneath him. Shiro followed, making his presence noticed when he swung the metal door shut with a thud. Keith wasn’t even startled by the noise, knowing exactly who it was._

_“Don’t you have curfew, Shiro?”_

_“I could ask you the same thing” Shiro chuckled as he sat down next to Keith, looking out upon the canyons surrounding the Garrison. They sat like that for a while, enjoying he light breeze and the clean air, the sounds of night, and looking out at the endless stars above them. Deciding Keith was alright to be alone, Shiro gave him a comforting pat on the shoulder, standing up to leave towards the door._

_“Hey Shiro?”_

_The older man spun around – Keith was facing him, still on the ledge, his face delicately lit by the moon. He looked so at peace, in his element, like all his worries in the world had been forgotten. “Yes Keith?”_

_“If I get caught, you’ve got my back, don’t you?”_

_Shiro chuckled at this. “I doubt anyone will catch you up here. But yes, I’ll defend you.”_

_Keith smiled warmly at him, before turning his gaze back onto the horizon. Shiro let the door click shut behind him._

Shiro had slept better than he had in the whole month that Keith had been gone, but it wasn’t a dreamless sleep. He could still see Keith’s peaceful expression behind his eyelids when woke up, letting out a breath he was holding in. Keith’s words rang in his ears. “If I get caught, you’ve got my back, don’t you?”. A wave of guilt went through his body, as he stood up and walked to the control room, where everyone already was, working away on their separate projects. Shiro hesitated, before approaching Pidge, who stopped her furious typing on the computer to look up at him.

“Hey Pidge, how can I help?”


	6. Penetrated

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The paladins make a decision, and so does Keith.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Its so cool that we know Voltron's ages now! And Keith is 2 years older than Lance!! For those of you who don't know:  
> Shiro: 25  
> Keith: 19 in October  
> Lance: 17  
> Hunk: 17  
> Pidge: 15  
> I've also ordered 'The Paladins Handbook' online because I'm hype  
> Anyways, enjoy this chapter!  
> 

Shiro was so busy tracking ship records with Pidge that he almost didn’t notice when Zarkon’s looming figure appeared on their screen. He was lounged in his throne, the camera only capturing his chest and up. Allura gasped and dropped whatever she was holding, catching everyone’s attention to the monitor. 

“Paladins, I decided to contact you and hear your answer. If you want your red paladin back, we can organise my collection of the black lion.”

There was silence in the control room. They hadn’t come together to make a decision yet, but Allura spoke for all of them. “We need more time,” stress was clear in her voice. 

“Time is precious, I’ve given you enough time,” Zarkon boomed, “I need your answer. Now.”

Shiro stepped forward next to Allura, placing a comforting hand on her back. “How do we even know that you’ll keep your side of the deal? That you won’t keep Keith along with the Black lion? How do we even know that Keith is with you, safe and alive?” Lance’s eyes watered as Shiro spoke. He hadn’t seen Keith in a month, and hadn’t even considered that he might not even be alive.

Zarkon let out a deep rumbling chuckle. “I was wondering when you were going to ask that. Do you want to see him?” Everyone gathered around Allura, fear and doubt flashed through their eyes as they stared up at the figure above them. Zarkon mumbled to another figure, outside of the camera’s range – “Keithial, behave. Not one word.”

Shiro’s stomach dropped as the camera zoomed out. 

A skinny, pale boy was kneeling on all fours under Zarkon’s armor-clad feet. It took Shiro a moment to realise that the boy was Keith and not a child – he looked so small, vulnerable, shaking under the weight. He looked straight at the floor, tears running down his cheeks and dripping onto the floor beneath him. He didn’t dare look at the screen, where his paladins observed with expressions of shock and disgust. Zarkon spoke first.

“As you can see, he is perfectly healthy. But I’m afraid you took too long, and I’ve grown quite attached to this slave. It may take come convincing for me to give him back.” 

Lance couldn’t stand it anymore. He was so close to yelling and screaming at seeing Keith in that position, wearing a sexualized costume, tears streaming down his face – he had to leave. Now. Lance didn’t even look back as he ran, not even knowing where he was going with no plan except to get away. He ran through twisting corridors until his legs burned and he was out of breath, and he found himself in a part of the castle that he was unfamiliar with. He stopped, and that’s when he started crying. Lance backed into a corner drawing his knees up to his chest, the image of a small broken Keith still at the front of his memory. “F-Fuck…” He stuttered, sobbing uncontrollably. He just wanted Keith back. He wished it was the same as before, all five lions in the hanger, all fine paladins in the castle, starting food fights at breakfast and arguing over the radio station. Lance buried his wet face into his knees.  
_________

Keith tuned every word from the screen out. He could hear Shiro and Allura’s voices, but didn’t pay attention to the words they were saying – he stayed kneeling, eyes on the floor, trying not to collapse under the weight because the consequences would probably be dire. Zarkon’s tone was confident, like everyone was exactly where he wanted them.

It felt like hours of trembling and listening to yells from the screen later, that it was finally turned off. Keith’s wrists twisted from underneath him, and he fell onto his chest hard – taking the breaths from his lungs. He coughed and sobbed, exhausted and bruised, praying that his team were on their way to get him.

Zarkon stood up silently, holding onto Keith’s leash forcing him to stand on wobbly legs. He was yanked to the bed and roughly shoved onto it, Zarkon’s figure suddenly on top of him. Keith squirmed in discomfort as a rough, scaly hand traveled down his chest, followed by an equally rough voice, “It seems like they don’t want you back, Keithial.” Tears brimmed in Keith’s grey eyes as he continued, “But that’s okay. I’ve got you all to myself now.”

Keith’s mind was blank, surprisingly. No feelings of betrayal, anger, sadness. In that moment, Keith was empty. It was the best emotion to have right now, to both convince himself not to lose hope, and to convince Zarkon that he accepted staying with him. He turned his head to the side. 

Zarkon hummed. “Is my little pet upset? Do you need cheering up, Keithial? I know I could use some stress relief. But if you retaliate, I will take measures to restrain and punish you.” Keith’s gold cuffs around his wrists suddenly snapped together by an invisible force, and rested on his chest, between him and Zarkon. 

Keith had discovered that keeping his face void of emotions was the best – the emotions of disgust towards the perverted man above him were kept deep down inside him to keep him out of trouble. Instead his face was blank, almost curious as he stared back at Zarkon. 

Keith was a little less shocked when Zarkon pressed the ‘Erect’ button, and Keith felt his flaccid penis rush with warmth. Zarkon pushed aside his loincloth, palming him as he grew harder. Keith’s breaths became heavier as sheen sweat started to appear on his chest.

But this time, Zarkon’s other hand pushed Keith’s knees up to his chest, and placed his hand on his inner thigh next to his hole. Keith yelped, trying to draw his legs together and squirm away from the unfamiliar touch in such a personal area. Zarkon lightly chuckled, shaking his head. “Keithial, you haven’t learned yet that you belong to me, and there’s nowhere to run.”

Keith closed his eyes, loosening his tense muscles and resting back into the mattress, dreading his master’s next actions. All he could do was lie there, as Zarkon spread his cheeks.

“Much smaller than a Galran hole, since your penis sizes seem quite small compared to us. It looks tight. No lubrication either… and you’re presumably infertile, which is desirable. But the tightness will be an issue. Keithial, I’ll let you decide. Would you rather a quick and easy modification, or the painful process of training your hole to take larger sizes?”

Keith didn’t like either option. He was still wrapping his head around the fact that Zarkon planned on actually having sex with him. But out of both selections, the second one was less permanent and took longer, meaning he could escape or be rescued before the end of it.  
“The second one.”

“What was that, Keithial? I think you forgot something.”

Keith stuttered, “U-Uh, the second one, master.”

Zarkon grinned, taking one hand away from his hole to palm his softening erection. Zarkon was still fully clothed, and Keith wondered how he got any pleasure out of doing this to him. His large scaly hand was rough against Keith’s sensitive skin, carefully gliding up and down his cock, thumbing the top in a circular motion. The second hand was still at his hole, a finger now circling the tight rim of muscle at the same pace. Zarkon’s hands left him as he walked to the chest at the end of the bed and opened it, rummaging around until he found a tube, similar shape and size to toothpaste, labelled with Galran characters. It had to have been lubrication.

Zarkon walked back over to Keith who was squirming and whimpering on the bed shamefully, his hard cock flush against his stomach. Before Zarkon, Keith had no sexual experiences with anyone else, so his inexperience and sensitivity made his mind fog, his focus on nothing but finding release. A wet finger prodded at his entrance, the other hand back on his lard length. Slowly, the tip of Zarkon’s finger pushed past the rim, and Keith violently clenched around it, his muscles tensing as he whimpered and threw his head back.

Zarkon soothed Keith as he pushed his finger in slowly, past the first knuckle, then the second. The fingers were much larger than humans, one or two being the same width and length of a cock. The lube was helping though, he felt a tingling warm sensation, numbing, sliding it in smoothly. It wasn’t as unpleasant as Keith thought it would be, but it was still uncomfortable. It must have been the magical Galra lube.

The finger prodded deeper and Keith let out a loud keen as it pressed against his prostate, shivering at the pressure still on his cock. The finger thrusted shallowly, Keith’s clenched hole gripping onto it allowing only small movements, as Zarkon hungrily stared at his finger entering and pulling out. Keith felt every ridge on Zarkon’s rough skin brush against his sensitive walls, his dick twitching.

Keith barely registered the door to the throne room open, two figures entering and heading over to Zarkon, who grumbled a complaint and pulled his finger out of Keith. Keith protested by whining loudly and tried to rub his cock with his chained hands, as Zarkon talked to the two guards quietly. He was almost at his climax, his thighs shaking with excitement with his head thrown back, his eyes rolling back with sweat dripping down his neck – when the pressure on his cock left. Zarkon had pressed the release button. His pleasure was cut short when his cock began to soften, and Keith let out a loud noise of displeasure. He thought the release button only stopped the constriction, and watched dejectedly as the blood rushed out of his groin and he became flaccid. He looked up at Zarkon, with tears in his eyes.

Zarkon smiled comfortingly, “I know Keithial, but master has business to attend to.”

Keith was lead back to the metal cell he woke up in when he first arrived, and a rush of emotions overwhelmed him. He had just given into Zarkon, his own enemy – he let him pleasure him and violate him, rape him, and as upset when he stopped? He enjoyed it…?

There wasn’t much he could do without his Bayard, or a weapon at all. Right now it was a game of staying alive, and the best way to do that was to gain Zarkon’s trust and not get into trouble. He just had to make sure he didn’t get too absorbed in the role he was playing.


	7. Disappointed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith plays along, and Lance is gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey sorry I haven't updated in a while, It's gone from daily updates to pretty much weekly :') Year 12 + this cold = my death.  
> Also this chapter is kinda short and shitty sorry bout that.  
> I plan on finishing at around 10 chapters!  
> Enjoy~

There had been no rest in The Castle of Lions since Zarkon’s message. Lance was particularly antsy – training every day, not going out on missions, barely peaking to anyone. Keith’s absence was clearly taking a toll on him, and everyone had noticed.

Lance lazily poked his grey breakfast with his spoon, looking like he’d rather be somewhere else. Shiro sighed at the gesture, “Come on Lance, you’ve got to eat something.” Lance didn’t even look up as he dropped his spoon in his food, and tiredly walked out of the room, his eyes glassy. 

_We’re never getting him back,_ Lance thought to himself, _He’s really gone and I can’t do anything about it._

The day hadn’t started and all Lance wanted to do was sleep forever.  
______________

Keith was in a similar mood. He had been confined to the metal room recently, barely seeing Zarkon let alone being allowed in his throne room. Two guards brought him meals and water, and bathing him every few days. But Keith didn’t know when it was day or night – probably because they were in space and didn’t have a sun or moon. He had no idea how long it had been since he left the castle – he usually measured by how much stubble he had, but he was waxed and shaved so regularly. His natural hair however now brushed against his shoulders, and he could easily tie it up if he had anything to do it with.

His resources were limited. Tucked into the waistband of his loincloth or under his bed were a small metal nail, some kind of writing utensil, a stretch of thin wire coiled into a ball and the equivalent of a small screwdriver. All had been collected either in the bathrooms or in the hallway when guards weren’t looking. Keith didn’t know when he would use them, but they made him feel safer. 

His constant routine was driving him insane – he could now time when the guards would visit him, the portion of food he would be given, how hot the water would be when they bathed him. With no other stimuli, Keith was bored. So bored that he almost hoped he would be called to the throne room to see Zarkon, or anyone other than the faceless guards who escorted him. 

After about a week, exactly that happened. Keith arrived in the throne room in his usual attire, looking around curiously. Zarkon was wearing something different – gold and black armour, a gold handled sword sitting in a sheath at his waist reminding Keith that he had no power against him. He looked like a glorified Christmas ornament, Keith giggled silently to himself.

“Keithial, come.” Keith walked with bare feet against the cold metal, towards Zarkon. The taller man held onto Keith’s waist as he spoke to him, “I am having an event soon following the conquering of a rebel fleet, and you will come with me to the trial. I need to remind you now, that I will not tolerate any disobedient behaviour. I have a reputation, and if you tarnish it you will face serious punishment. But I have faith in you, pet, you’ll be a good boy won’t you?”

Keith stiffly nodded, remembering the whipping session soon after he arrived on the ship. He could play along, and perhaps listen to the trial to gain some information about surviving rebels. 

A slave appeared from Zarkon after the older man gestured towards Keith, and a gold ribbon tied his hair up into a short ponytail. A gold chain was secured on the loop on his collar, the handle resting in Zarkon’s large hand. Keith was led by his master down winding hallways, until they arrived at a room Keith had never seen. The far wall was a window looking out into space, and a long dining table, similar to the one back at the castle except the same grey metal as the rest of the ship, lined the center of the room. Keith was led to the larger chair at the end, where Zarkon sat, and he was forced to his hands and knees next to him. Minutes later, the room willed with Galran officers, some having slaves themselves. Finally, a string of prisoners connected by chains shuffled into the room. 

They were similar in stature to humans, except with an extra set of arms and dark grey skin at almost faded into the metal walls. Each stood at the foot of the long table seated with Galra, at the opposite to Zarkon and Keith. From his place on the floor, Keith could only see their heads. A large hand gripped his head and forced his head down, driving his gaze to rest on the floor. 

Then, they were speaking another language. Keith had no idea how languages worked – how had Zarkon been able to communicate with him, English of all languages in the universe, then change his tongue so quickly that everyone else in the room could understand him except for Keith. He understood the feeling of the conversation though – the prisoners were rebels, they were confessing to their crimes, and being sentenced to death or relocation. But suddenly, one of the prisoners spoke in a language that Keith could understand.

“The rebels will never bow down to you! Fleets of different species who have had their planets destroyed are rising up, and capturing us won’t change their faith!”

Zarkon lowly chuckled at this, “Are you sure? Look beside me, at the human at my feet. He is a former paladin of Voltron, the most powerful weapon in the universe against the Galra. He has been shaped and molded to my liking, and he now serves me. Even the most rebellious can be snuffed out.”

Keith didn’t understand the rest of the conversation. His knees started to hurt from being pressed into the ground for so long, and his neck hurt from staying in the same position – he longed to get up and stretch, but he didn’t dare. He felt like such an accessory – a pretty thing hanging off the side of Zarkon to prove his power and wealth, his triumph over his enemies. Out of boredom, Keith started vividly imagining what he would do to his ‘master’ if he got his hands on his Bayard.  
______________

Shiro thought Lance was a little jittery since the day Zarkon called, but he really didn’t expect this. The blue lion had been missing from the hanger since they had all woken up – no one even noticed that Lance was out of bed. 

Now in his sleepwear, with everyone busy or having resided for the night, Shiro was running around the control room looking through security cameras and tracking the lion like he had been doing all day, trying desperately to contact him by yelling into the coms that Lance had already turned off. With Lance’s emotions at that moment he couldn’t be trusted to make rational decisions. 

After hours of stressing and pulling his own hair out, the com in Shiro’s helmet next to him crackled. “Shiro?”

Shiro had never put his helmet on so fast, yelling “Lance! Lance are you okay? Where are you?”

Shiro heard heavy breathing on the other line, sounding like Lance was trying not to cry. “I’m… coming back now, don’t worry. I was Just checking something out, but it was a false alarm. I’m sorry.”

Shiro breathed a sigh of relief. As long as Lance was back in the castle he was happy. Lance arrived shortly after, Shiro meeting him in the hanger. The blue paladin stumbled out, dropping his helmet next to him, his head downcast. Shiro tried to look comforting, but he was just as upset as he put an arm around Lance and led him to Keith’s room where he knew the younger boy had been sleeping recently. He watched silently as Lance took off his armour, thinking of something to say – but not being able to find the right words. 

Lance sat next to Shiro on Keith’s bed. “It was a fighter ship, just one. I thought maybe- you know, it could have been him. But it started attacking as soon as I got near it, so…”

Shiro smiled sadly. “It’s okay Lance. We’re going to get him back without having to make any sacrifices.”

Shiro and Lance slept together in Keith’s bed that night, wrapped in each other’s warmth, their minds on the same red paladin.


	8. Discarded

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zarkon is bored.

Keith’s hair was past his shoulders now. His fingers threaded through his ivory hair, detangling knots and massaging away his headache. He hadn’t been in the throne room in ages, and was starting to get worried – he felt like he’d become just another prisoner, displaced to a mining planet or kept in a cell or something. So Keith had decided, since he wasn’t getting rescued any time soon and would have to find a way to escape on his own, that he would suck up to Zarkon and be the most loyal slave he had ever had. This was difficult considering Zarkon never wanted to see him. 

Keith spent most of his time in the room exercising, sleeping, playing with his hair, but mostly thinking. Thinking about what he’d say to Lance and Shiro when he got back, which he definitely was going to do – imagining a better situation like the movie nights they had, the meals they ate together, the sleepless nights where Shiro and Keith stayed awake just talking. 

Keith had thought of every possible way of escaping, along with any possible consequence of being caught. He figured that instead of planning he would wait for the right opportunity, when the right moment arose. Perhaps Zarkon would take him along to a conquered planet to show him off and he could escape to contact Voltron. 

Keith’s steel door opened. He stood up, letting the strand of hair he was playing with fall onto his shoulders. He silently followed the guards down the hallway. From the amount of times he was escorted to the throne room, Keith had counted that it took on average 350 steps to get there.

Keith was left standing just inside the door to the throne room, and the guards left – leaving Keith alone with his ‘master’, who was currently in front of the switchboard, operating the screen. Keith stood silently, until Zarkon motioned with a large hand to approach him.

“I thought having my own pet would be a pleasurable distraction,” Zarkon’s loud voice vibrated in Keith’s ears, “But I really just have no time for you. You’re not interested anyway. I doubt I’ll be able to train you to serve me completely, and quite frankly you’re boring. There are many more suitable Galran women who can serve me better.”

Keith panicked. His position kept him out of danger, and he wanted to stay exactly there. Keith dropped to his knees in front of Zarkon, looking up at him and bearing the skin on his neck as a sign of submission.

Zarkon chuckled at the action. “I liked you at first, Keithial, because of the sense of power I felt over having captured and defeated a paladin. But you’re not physically desirable – you’re infertile, your body can’t handle my girth, and if I play too hard I’ll break you.”

Keith rubbed his face against his armored leg. Zarkon ignored him, typing on the control panel, his eyes trained to the screen. Keith remained on his knees – rubbing against Zarkon, looking up at him, letting out small noises. This continued until Keith’s knees hurt from the hard floor.  
Zarkon huffed in annoyance. “I liked that spark of rebellion in you, such a shame that you’ve been broken.”

Keith looked up in shock. Broken? He was being scolded for being too… obedient?

A large hand gripped his long hair and Keith yelped as he was dragged to his feet. “Don’t act pitiful, slave.” Slave. Not pet, not Keithial, he was a slave now. “I was wondering what to get my son for his birthday, but I think I’ve found my gift. I won’t let you waste away in a cell, I’ve put too much effort into you.” Zarkon’s fingers traced over his control panel, and Keith squirmed.

When two guards entered and took him away, Keith never saw Zarkon in person again. He had escaped him, but hadn’t escaped his role as a slave. He was merely getting a new master – Zarkon’s son, he had no idea who he was. Would he be as towering and intimidating as Zarkon? Is he full Galra, or something else? How old was he?

Keith was almost excited. He was happy to learn that he would leave his metal room behind, but not as happy when he learned he would keep the same clothes. Apparently this new master ‘admired beautiful things’, one of the guards told him, ‘both objects and people’. 

He wondered if he would be used for the same purpose. The metal panel on his stomach was still there, deeming him a sex slave. Keith had never pressed any of the buttons himself, he didn’t dare, and Zarkon had only used them a few times. Would his son, being younger, need to use him more often?

It must have been about a week later that Keith was led to a new part of the ship and he watched through the large window into space as a fleet approached. Their ships were different – one large white and silver one, a similar size and shape to the Galran ones, followed by smaller white fighter jets. Keith assumed this was the son’s fleet, but wondered why they were different. A guard answered his question for him with a sigh, “Unfortunately his son lives a leisurely life and doesn’t fight for the empire. He prefers to live in luxury, and stay as a ‘guest’ on other planets. Ridiculous.”

Keith already liked the sound of him. 

Without warning, Keith’s knees forcefully buckled and he fell on the floor. The metal cuffs around his wrists snapped together in front of him, and a blindfold and material gag covered his eyes and mouth. Rope secured his ankles and knees together. _‘What a way to wrap a present,’_ Keith thought to himself, as he was lifted and carried to the white ship once it was docked. 

The temperature shifted as he entered – from cold and uninviting, to a warm and comforting embrace. The smell of petrol also shifted to something sweeter, and reminded Keith of bakeries and pastries back on Earth. Keith let himself be carried through the main ship, until he was placed on something comfortable and warm. It was similar to Zarkon’s bed, except much softer, and less sterile. Keith found it easy to fall into a dreamless sleep. 

__________________

Keith was warm. 

He was dragged gently out of his deep sleep by the presence of something warm next to him, but he savored the feeling and kept his eyes closed. Fingers ran lovingly through his hair, and suddenly he felt a wave of nostalgia, and wished he was back in his cabin, in the middle of the desert, with Shiro by his side. He pressed his face into the figure’s naked chest, who hummed, his voice much lighter and softer than Zarkon’s booming rough one.

Keith breathed in. The figure smelled warm, like cinnamon and spices and winter back on Earth. His hand rested on the figure’s smooth stomach. Everything was warm and comfortable and soft – and he reflected black to Zarkon, where he was mostly on his own in the room, on the hard metal shelf. Keith was still waking up, his thoughts still fuzzy, as he continued to snuggle into the warmth. 

A little more awake, and a little more aware of the situation, Keith suddenly forcefully shoved himself away from the warmth, his potentially new master – and fell to the floor next to the bed, whacking his arm against something as he flailed. Keith groaned and held his hand to his chest, blinking his eyes and staring at the figure on the bed, his eyebrows knitted in confusion as the man giggled. 

If he was human he’d assume the man was early 20s, he had the same lavender skin and yellow eyes as the other Galra, but unlike Zarkon he had pupils. His long white hair fell down his back, a similar length to Keith’s. He was slender, taller than Keith, with slight muscle and broad shoulders. He was lazily leaning back on the cushions of a bed, smaller than Zarkon’s. Keith had just noticed that almost everything in the room was white. The metal walls were white, the carpet, the bed frame, curtains, cushions and comforters – with the odd touch of gold and silver. Keith looked around from his place on the floor. It was a small room bigger than a normal bedroom but smaller than Zarkon’s throne room. It was strangely similar to a human room. It housed a bed, drawers, a cupboard – carpet lined the floor instead of metal, no control panel. A full length window lined one wall, and a large sliding door lined the other. 

“Come on gorgeous, come back to bed.” Keith hesitated at the gentle voice, smooth as silk. Their eyes met, and Keith felt such a sense of comfort that he cautiously crawled onto the bed, slipping under the covers and looking into the man’s eyes.

“So obedient, I’m glad. I didn’t want to have to punish you or anything, your face is too pretty.”

Keith stared. If he had to be a slave, he was glad be would be at least treated well. His face softened comfortably at the man, shuffling closer. The man’s fingers threaded through his hair again, immediately comforting Keith. “I am Prince Lotor,” the man said gently, “your new owner. Not master, none of that nonsense. And you’ll be more of a companion than a slave, though I’d like to see you running around doing little chores for me…” Lotor trailed off in thought. 

The cuffs on Keith’s wrists, along with the control panel on his stomach made Keith wonder if he could escape from his slavery role. Lotor noticed the cuffs as Keith fiddled with them. “Don’t worry gorgeous, I don’t think I’ll need to use them. It’s more of a cautionary measure. Just treat them like jewelry. But…” Lotor’s hand dragged down the younger’s stomach, “I have never seen _this_ before.”

Out of instinct, Keith swatted Lotor’s hand away from his stomach, then gasped and looked up apologetically. Lotor giggled, amused at the action, “It’s okay, we can talk about this later.”

Keith was brought to Prince Lotor’s naked chest again, and he flushed. Lotor’s actions weren’t exactly sexual, but more comforting than anything, so Keith gave in and pressed his face into Lotor’s clavicle, breathing him in. He fell asleep again, but this time with less concern and worry than before, and for the first time since back in the castle – at ease.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always your comments keep me writing!


	9. Comforted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lotor makes his decision about the Galran War, and Keith spends more time with him

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I know this chapter is kinda short and shitty, but it falls into my 1500-2000 words per chapter quota. You may have noticed that I took away the /10 chapters thing, because I'm thinking of having more chapters! We'll see. Sorry if you think the story is happening to quickly! I'm trying to flesh out the chapters with a little more detail. 
> 
> I'm so glad Lotor had such positive reactions in the comments, his actions and personality aren't canon but I still love my boy ;u;
> 
> As always I read every comment and they motivate me to write more! Thanks!!

Lance stared at the number on the screen with watery eyes. 8 months, 16 days, 6 hours and 43 minutes ago, Keith was captured. Pidge had the technology to convert time into the form they used back on Earth, and Lance asked her to make this so he would know how long it had been. Lance spent most of his time in the control room now, since the number of battles they faced had decreased without Keith. Lance could usually be seen monitoring the movement of ships with Pidge, looking through security cameras, or doing what he was doing now - staring up at the screen, watching the minutes pass, feeling lonely and sorry for himself.

He had recently started accepting the meals that Shiro was gingerly bringing him due to the awful stomach pain and headaches that came with under-eating. Anyways, Keith was already suffering, one of them had to stay healthy. He was much thinner now though, his already prominent bones jutting out from under his skin, especially his ribs and hips. Falling over or knocking them on anything hurt more than usual without more meat on his bones. Lance's stomach grumbled at the thought of meat. 

8 months, 16 days, 6 hours and 45 minutes now.  
___________________

Life with Lotor was _considerably_ better for Keith. He played his submissive role without any want or need to attack anyone, or even to escape. He was living contently, free to roam around the ship, go into any room he wanted to, eat whenever he wanted to, seek company or be alone. Galran guards were onboard, but were much less cold than Zarkon’s. They wore white and silver armour, and were often found sitting around talking, with their helmets off. Most of them were kind to Keith too – letting him sit with them, talk to them. 

Of course Keith missed his team. But if he wanted to be anywhere in the universe, the castle was first – but Lotor’s ship was second. 

Lotor’s only expectations of him were company. Sometimes he’d call Keith to lie down with him, or sit and eat with him, sometimes bathe with him. He never made any sexual moves, never crossed any boundaries. Keith had a new insight to this side of the Galra – the peaceful side, where they weren’t interested in war and just wanted to live their lives in comfort. Sometimes there were alien guests – Lotor visited colonies and invited leaders on board to dine and chat – Lotor was quite a famous host. Whenever guests tried to speak to him about alliances and war and strategy, Lotor would just pour another glass of space-wine and say he ‘wasn’t concerned with all that stuff’.

As a precaution, which was reasonable, Keith wasn’t allowed outside of the ship when they landed on different planets. He could look out windows though – the one in his room covered the whole wall, and he enjoyed falling asleep to wake up to new scenery. 

More recently though, there was some unrest in the ship. Lotor became more busy with work, which was strange because it seemed like he never usually did work. And what was the work? He lived a leisurely life, didn’t he? Familiar leaders of alien colonies were coming onto the ship more frequently to speak with Lotor, not to dine – they went straight to his room and didn’t appear until hours later. Keith was tempted to listen in on their conversations, but feared the consequences of getting caught. It was none of his business.

One day, Keith awoke to the sounds of gunfire. 

He threw himself out of bed messily, stumbling out into the hallway and towards the front room. Lotor’s guards were running around him, some of them armed and all clad in armour. Keith reached the front room only to find Lotor, the peaceful man who had no interest in war, in front of the control board, directing their ion cannon towards a black Galran ship and their surrounding fleet.

Keith was shocked. Lotor was firing at his own race – a Galran ship. Lotor swung around at Keith, noticing his presence, and motioned for him to go to him. Keith walked towards him cautiously, almost scared of this new man in front of him. Lotor had armour on, white and silver like the rest of his team, with a long gold-hilted sword at his waist. Lotor pulled Keith close to him.

“Now, I have to explain this to you. There’s really no way I can stay passive in a war like this, when millions of beautiful planets are at risk of being destroyed at the hands of my father. There are beings and items too stunning to be harmed – you’ve seen the planets we’ve landed on babe, you don’t want them to die, do you? After I’ve sorted this out I promise I’ll spend more time with you, gorgeous.”

Keith wondered if Lotor even knew his name. He nodded up at the man in understanding.

“Good boy. Now go back to your room, I don’t want my precious jewel getting damaged in this war.”  
_______________

Keith watched everything, through the window in his room. He watched as silver fighter jets were released on one of Zarkon’s fleets – his main ship wasn’t involved. He shook nervously when their own ship was hit, trying to remember where the escape pods were if he ever needed to use them. But eventually, over time, less and less gunshots were heard, and more and more grey Galran wreckage appeared. Keith watched as the main ship was sliced in two, and heard the cheers of guards outside his room.

Keith was excited. He was back in his element, and was thrumming to get in a ship and fight the Galra alongside Lotor’s men. He was finally back on his side of the war. Well, behind Lotor. He was in no position to fight when he was serving the man, anyways he hadn’t trained in ages. He probably wouldn’t be able to wield a sword. 

Since the battle was over, Keith padded out of his room bare-foot to the front room. He watched silently from the door as Lotor removed his helmet, his chest puffing out in triumph as his men talked excitedly around him, patting him on the back. Lotor was shining – not from the sweat, but the look of excitement and enjoyment he showed off lit up the whole room. Keith almost smiled with him. 

“Next time I’d prefer to be out there,” Lotor laughed, “and not stuck in this control room pressing buttons!”

Keith wondered about the way Prince Lotor fought. He wielded a sword – was that his dominant weapon? Was he good in non-weapon combat? He had already seen the impressive muscles decorating the man’s body, were they a result of training? Keith’s heart thrummed at the thought of sparring with the man.

Once the room had cleared a bit, the taller man noticed Keith hovering in the doorway and smiled, “Why don’t you come join me?”. Keith shyly padded over, letting Lotor pull him into a slightly sweaty hug – his armour now on the table beside them. “Sorry to drag you into all this, I know you’re a loyal little Galra slave. But you’re going to have to switch sides to be able to stay with me. Is that okay?” Keith nodded a little too quickly. It was obvious at this point that Lotor had no knowledge of his life before he was kidnapped by Zarkon, which surprised him. But it kind of made things easier.

Keith spent the next few hours glued to Lotor’s side as various alien leaders boarded and left the ship, both to congratulate the man and to plan their next moves. _He sure does know how to make allies,_ Keith thought, _I guess that’s not hard when you throw so many dinner parties._

Keith suddenly found himself exhausted, taking a seat in the corner of a long decorative couch while Lotor vividly explained to a green gentleman how he tore the main Galran ship in half. Keith listened to him, but couldn’t help the wave of weariness that was overcoming him. His eyelids grew heavy, and the view of his animated owner turned fuzzy as his head lolled to the side onto the armrest, falling asleep in seconds.  
________________

Lotor almost cooed at the little kitten curled up on the sofa, his chest rising up and down gently as he breathed through his nose. The boy’s long hair was no longer tied up, and his long black waves fell onto his shoulders. Lotor leaned in closer to see Keith’s eyelashes famed out on his cheeks dusted with pink, his skin pale and smooth down his neck, under the gold chains around his neck. His slight muscle and feminine body shape was absolutely admirable. Lotor gently hooked one arm under the younger boy’s knees and the other one behind his back – carrying him almost bridal-style, close to his chest. The boy shivered when his warm body came in contact with Lotor’s cold one – the sweat from earlier had remained on his skin and given him a bit of a chill. That’s why he was headed for a rest, and decided to take his prized possession with him. 

His obedient little lap dog had exceeded his expectations – he agreed with everything Lotor said, he ran little chores like bringing him things and cleaning windows when they needed it. He had even chosen to support Lotor’s war strategy. Keith was exactly what he needed – reassurance, comfort, pleasure. While they hadn’t done anything romantic per se, Lotor was quite content with having the little jewel by his side. Maybe they would eventually progress to something more intimate, or at least he hoped.

Lotor reached Keith's own room, which he decided to take his nap in. He wanted Keith to not freak out when he awoke. Lotor awkwardly brought the comforter and blankets back with his foot as his hands were full, almost falling over in the process. He placed Keith down, who instinctively rolled onto his side and curled up. Lotor smiled warmly at him. He stripped down to his underwear, and slid in next to the warm body, spooning him from behind. Keith’s warm back pressed against his chest, allowing heat to pleasantly engulf him as he breathed in Keith’s fruity shampoo, and let himself give in to sleep too.


	10. Pleasured

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not-quite reunited, everyone is stressed. Particularly Prince Lotor, Lance and Keith. Tiny bit of soft smut at the end.

Keith stood on his tippy-toes as he dusted the top of Lotor’s dresser. His height under 6 feet irked him, as he wobbled on shaky legs. He felt the duster hit the wall above, and he smiled in victory as he was able to dust the entire top surface of the furniture. Little tufts of grey fluff fell down to the floor, which Keith would have to sleep later. The particles around Keith suddenly made his eyes water, as he sneezed.

Lotor laughed from his position on the couch beside him, and Keith glared at him, wiping his nose briefly on his arm. “Cute little kitten,” the older man cooed, and went back to reading from some sort of Galra tablet. Keith huffed, half in annoyance but mostly exasperated. He really wasn’t used to all the compliments he was showered with daily. Lotor seemed like a very affectionate person, and apparently had no one to give his affection to before Keith. 

Keith finished dusting all the furniture, then placed his items in the cupboard neatly, dusting his hands off. He didn’t hate cleaning for Lotor, it wasn’t much different to the chores he had in the castle. Dusting things, cleaning surfaces and windows, changing sheets, mopping. It actually helped him get into a routine and take his mind off things. He also noticed that Lotor liked to watch him – always in the same room, telling him spots he’d missed, teasing him and telling him how cute he looked in his adorned outfit. He also noticed that his clothes fitted in with Lotor’s theme of white, gold and silver.

It had been a little while since their battle with the Galran ship, maybe a few days. While his owner was now much more preoccupied with work, he still tried to spend time with Keith, even if he was typing away on his tablet. Keith made his way to the couch, and clambered over the man to squeeze his body in between the back of the couch and Lotor, fitting his head in the crevice of Lotor’s neck. The older man laughed at the ordeal. “What in the world are you doing?”

Keith huffed out a quiet “Reward.”

Lotor laughed softly, placing his tablet on the table next to them. He positioned his body so that they were chest to chest, Keith gazing up at the man expectedly. Lotor brought his hand up and threaded his fingers through Keith’s raven hair, massaging his scalp. Keith keened at the touch and leaned in closer, closing his eyes as he was treated. It was a comforting gesture, first introduced by the older man, that Keith was now addicted to and couldn’t do without. Not that Lotor minded, of course. 

They stayed like that, Keith being a puddle in his owner’s hands, until Lotor was called to do business and Keith was instructed to mop the main halls. 

Keith strutted towards the storage room and found the alien equivalent of a mop and bucket, filled it with soapy liquid, and got to work, humming happily.  
_____________________

“Voltron? …who?”

Prince Lotor looked at the Darmalian leader quizzically, who looked back at him just as confused. “You don’t know them?” The alien’s slimy voice somewhat slurred it’s words together like a drunk. “The most powerful weapon in the universe?”

“Oh! Yes I’ve heard of it, I didn’t know it was a group of people. What species?”

The alien purred in thought. “I don’t know. Same body shape as you, pink skin. Nothing special about them, except they can pilot The Lions of Voltron.” Lotor hummed. _If I can get them as allies, they’re my best hope against my father._

“Find them,” Lotor ordered to his guards, “Or at least get me a connection to talk to them. I can’t assume the deadliest weapon in the universe have made themselves easy to find.” His guards exited the room. 

Around an hour later, he had a connection with the castle. He sat in the front room in front of the control panel, trying to fix his hair and look presentable, when a young female figure appeared on his screen, a scowl set into her features. He assumed his own image was being projected in her ship. 

Lotor cleared his throat. “I, Prince Lotor, request a meeting with the leader of your fleet.”

The female’s scowl was now set impossibly deeper. “Firstly, you’re looking at her. Secondly, what would Zarkon’s son want with me?” Lotor was shocked at her sneering tone. 

“Why, I would like to make an alliance,” he squeaked out, “With the most powerful weapon in the universe. I’ve heard you’re quite a match to Zarkon.”

The young girl laughed, “and why in the universe would we do that?”

Lotor, quite angry at this point, leaned close to the screen. “Now, I don’t know if your species has ever heard of manners but I would appreciate it if you used them - I have not gotten your name yet. I don’t know if you know this, only _most of the universe_ knows it, but I am the leader of a Galran rebel fleet. I not long ago took out an entire fleet with my one main ship and 20 fighter jets. Now that that’s out of the way, and we are both on the same page, may I have your name and a place I can meet with you to discuss our alliance?”

The girl looked shocked, and took a moment to collect herself, but the scowl left her face. “Princess Allura of the Alteans. I’m sending you our coordinates now. But for safety measures, I’ll only allow you and one other to board the ship, unarmed. You’ll be weapon-checked upon your arrival. I’ll get the paladins now, so they recognise your face and know your intentions when you are here.”

Lotor leaned back in his ship, satisfied. Taking a guard with him would make sense, but given the fact that they don’t particularly like Galrans, and have probably had bad experiences with guards, Lotor considered taking Keith with him. Though he was just a lowly servant, he may feel more comfortable with the boy there with him. 

One by one, armor-clad figures appeared on the screen – Lotor counted four of them. He almost laughed at their tacky colour coordination, each assigned to a different colour. “This is it? That’s all there is?”

Allura sighed. “We had a fifth, but we are in the process of getting him back. So for now, this is it.”

Lotor heard the door creak open from beside him, followed by a soft voice, “Lotor? I’ve finished mopping, did you want anything else?”

Lotor heard a gasp from the screen. Lotor looked at his servant, then back at the monitor – the blue paladin looked teary, looking up at the monitor expectantly. His servant was off screen, but his voice…

The information pieced together in Lotor’s head. The paladins all had pink skin, like his boy. They had hair like his boy. They were around his boy’s height. Voltron was missing one of their Paladins.

Lotor looked over his shoulder at his servant, “Darling, can you come here for a moment?”. 

______________________

Keith stuttered nervously. From his place behind the door he knew Lotor was speaking with someone important, probably a leader of some nature. Keith really didn’t want to interrupt or get involved in his owner’s work, so he hesitated. “Uh, I-It’s okay, I can come back when you’re done?”

He heard Lotor get out of his seat and walk up to the door, and Keith shrunk back when the door swung completely open. Lotor didn’t grab him – he just looked at him. Amber eyes roamed over his exposed body, and he pouted in thought. “What species of alien are you?”

Keith spluttered, he wasn’t expecting this question. “U-uh, Human. From Earth.”

Lotor gave him one last look and strode back over to the monitor. Keith took this as an opportunity to slip away, but Lotor’s next words to the figures on the screen kept him solid in place.

“You wouldn’t happen to be human, would you?”

Keith heard no response from the screen, but Lotor must have guessed their answer from their reactions. Lotor clapped his hands together in a quick applause. “I really wasn’t expecting this! This is all so exciting. Say, Princess, If I was to present to you the missing red paladin, would you automatically consider me to be an ally to fight in this Galra war?”

Keith didn’t know how to respond at first, but his body responded for him. As soon as he figured out Lotor was speaking to Princess Allura, and potentially the other paladins, his heart leapt out of his chest. He dropped whatever he was holding and tears rolled down his cheeks – his mouth hung open trying to form words but he couldn’t. He wanted to burst into the room to look up at those familiar faces, but his legs were like concrete. His knees wobbled, so he rested his body on the wall beside him. His ears were ringing so loudly that he couldn’t hear the rest of the conversation inside the room. 

Lance’s condition wasn’t any better.

Since he heard Keith’s voice, the first time he arrived and then again when Lotor approached the voice off screen, he was in shock. He had backed away from the group, out of range of the projector. Then, Lotor confirmed his prediction. He had Keith.

Lance didn’t know whether he was going to yell, scream or faint. Probably all three, but most likely the last one. His legs shook and he felt dizzy, he pressed his hand to his forehead and let out a breath. He heard voices, but couldn’t piece together what they were saying. Moments later, strong arms were embracing him and his face was pressed against a warm chest. He didn’t remember walking or being carried, but moments later he was in Shiro’s room, in the bed, with the same body next to him.

Lance started, leaping up and dragging the blankets off with him – but a hand gently pulled him back. He looked into Shiro’s eyes – not panicked, not anxious, but soft. He looked like he had been through a lot too, but was handling it differently to Lance.

“Come on,” Shiro said softly, “It’ll be okay. We will see him when we wake up, okay? Everything will be fine.” 

And Lance believed him. He lay back down next to the warm body, and gave in to sleep, dreaming of his red paladin.  
______________________

Lotor leaned back in his chair and he sighed as the screen clicked off. Of course they had questioned him and suspected him at first, thinking he was the one who kidnapped the boy – who he now knew was named _Keith_. He explained everything to them, and assured them Keith was in good hands. A servant yes, but a happy and comfortable one. 

He was adamant of course to give up his little gem. They made an agreement though – he could stay at the castle as a guest for as long as he wanted, and Keith could continue to serve him if the boy wished to. Lotor rubbed his hands across his face and sighed. Keith would probably ditch him to go back to his paladins, since he wasn’t bound to anyone anymore. He hoped that Keith would at least be thankful for his treatment…

Lotor heard soft sobbing coming through the door, and suddenly remembered leaving the boy at the entrance. He strode towards the door and pulled it open – only to find Keith curled up, his back pressed against the wall in the hallway. Lotor kicked himself mentally for deserting him. He scooped up the younger in his arms, noting that he was shaking with cold, and paced to Keith’s room. Lotor was anxious, and concerned. He knew how fragile Keith was.

Once Keith was warm and comfortable in his own bed, it was clear the boy calmed down a little. Lotor found himself pulled by the wrist into bed with him. After a moment of lying next to the hot restless boy, he noticed something.

“Keith, are you horny?”

Lotor laughed as the younger boy squeaked in embarrassment, trying to shift his crotch away from him until Lotor shook his head and pulled him closer. “It’s okay gorgeous, I know you haven’t had that release in a while, and you’re probably frustrated. Do you want me to help you out?”

Keith nodded from his place buried in the blankets. Lotor smiled warmly, letting his hands reach down to palm Keith through the loincloth. The younger boy shivered and pressed closer, shyly thrusting into Lotor’s hand. Lotor pushed the cloth aside and gripped the paladin’s growing length, watching his facial expressions to make sure he was consenting. When he saw no doubt or hesitation, Lotor pumped and squeezed his cock at a slow pace, whispering to Keith – “I figured out what the buttons on your panel are for, I read the characters when you weren’t looking.”

Keith stiffened immediately and teared up, so Lotor continued. “But – I have no intention of using them. I want to prove something, that I can make you come undone in my hands without the help of Galran technology, like my father. I’ll prove I’m a better suitor than him, a more loving owner.” 

Lotor’s hand continued pumping and the other reached up to snake through Keith’s hair – an action the prince knew he loved – and Keith keened, nuzzling into the man. Having kept it in for so long, Keith didn’t last long, and he let out a muffled moan as he spilled into Lotor’s hand. Keith fell into a state of blissful post-orgasm, and rested in Lotor’s arms. The older felt a rush of affection and warmth towards Keith as he silently licked his hand clean, grinning in accomplishment. He didn’t need stupid buttons to pleasure the boy, and he had just proved that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for your wonderful comments c:


	11. Reunited

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After 9 months, Keith is finally back at the castle. But are things going to be the same?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys~   
> I'm getting to the end of this fic! I'm thinking of only one or two more chapters after this c:  
> Thanks for your Kudos and Comments!

Keith was fidgeting, shifting his weight from foot to foot as he picked at his own fingernails. He was biting the inside of his cheek, taking off small chunks of flesh making red sores along the inside of his mouth. 

Lotor was behind him, rummaging around for a hair-tie to close the braid he made in Keith’s hair. ‘To look more presentable’, his explanation was. Keith’s hair now brushed against his hips, and he usually left it out, but today was a special occasion. Keith’s biting continued until Lotor made a noise of success and came back with a hair-tie. 

Keith wondered what the reactions would be. First of all to his appearance – his slight frame, long hair, weird clothes, but most of all the panel that adorned his stomach. Keith subconsciously rubbed his hand across it, and pulled the waistband of his loincloth higher to hide it. Then, in terms of Keith’s role. He probably wouldn’t be able to fly or wield a sword after this long, and it would take him a while to train up the muscles again. He didn’t like conflict in fear that he’d get in trouble. He was submissive, a follower, happy to do what other people wanted. Keith could barely remember what he was like before this whole ordeal, but he was certain that he wasn’t like this.

The whole dynamic in Voltron would change. He’s no longer the loner, he craved attention and affection. He doesn’t have quick reflexes and he’s certainly not fiery in spirit – would Red even let him in anymore? 

Lotor noticed Keith’s ministrations and closed his hands around Keith’s before he could pick his own fingernail off. Keith looked up at him, startled out of his thoughts.

Lotor smiled reassuringly, “Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. And so will Voltron… and so will I.”  
__________________

Lance watched the fighter jet fall through the atmosphere and a shiver of anticipation went through him. He had been waiting for this for _nine months_. The rest of the team had been too, of course. 

The fighter jet pulled into a dock on the castle, and Shiro went to greet them. They decided Shiro should go first because he’s the most able if Lotor was pulling some kind of trick. That left Lance, Hunk, Pidge, Allura and Coran in the front room, anxiously looking towards the door every five seconds hoping to see the raven haired boy walk through. And soon enough, he did.

A small, nervous looking boy was clinging to the side of a Galran man, which Lance assumed was Lotor. It took Lance a moment to realise he was looking at Keith though. Yeah there were physical changes like his long hair, but it hit Lance suddenly at how _small_ he looked. It didn’t help that he was standing next to Lotor and Shiro. He was hunched up, both arms grasping the Galran’s arm tightly as his anxious eyes flittered around the room, taking it all in. Then his eyes landed on Lance, on the other side of the room. 

Lance barely registered that the boy was running towards him until he was in his arms, his legs wrapped around Lance’s waist as he sobbed loudly into his shoulder. Lance caught him, his hands resting around the boy’s waist and back and when he fell out of his shocked state, he pushed his own face into Keith’s shoulder and grabbed on for dear life. Keith was so _light_. He was half the weight he used to be, but he figured that was from loss of muscle. 

Lance didn’t know how much later it had been that Keith crawled out of his arms reluctantly and was back clinging to the Galran’s side. He gave a shy ‘hello’ to Allura and the other Paladins, having already given Shiro an emotional reunion at the dock. 

Lance watched as Keith’s head lulled to the side when Allura spoke to Lotor. They were getting into business now and were sitting around the room, Keith was practically on Lotor’s lap. He became shy after his sudden burst of affection towards Lance. So now Lance was just watching him, making sure he was okay, surveying his body for any marks and bruises. Lance was kind of irked about how he was so attached to this Prince, the one who enslaved him and who he assumed treated him badly. _Maybe it’s Stockholm Syndrome._

“As I said before, before we go any further, we need to do a weapon check.” Allura looked at Coran, who brought out a large paddle which was presumably a scanner. Lance saw Keith pull his loincloth higher up his waist, and wondered if Lotor was the only one they had to worry about. Lotor confidently stood with his arms and legs spread out, and the paddle was waved over him. He passed successfully. Keith, however, caused the paddle to set off a shrieking alarm straight away, causing the younger boy to shrink away from Coran and cling onto Lotor again.

“What is the meaning of this?” Allura yelled, “Disarm yourself. I can’t believe you’d get Keith to carry weapons and take the fall for you.”

Lotor cleared his throat. “I’m afraid, Princess, this is a piece of Galra technology that can’t be removed. And quite honestly I’m struggling to think of ways in which it could be used as a weapon.” Lotor sounded offended. He looked over at Keith as if gently commanding him to show them what he was talking about.

Keith gulped, shaking as he stood away from Lotor’s side and hooked his thumbs around the waistband of his loincloth, shimmying it down to his hipbones. Lance almost swallowed his tongue. A metal panel was inset into his skin, decorated with four buttons with foreign symbols on them. Tears came to Lance’s eyes when he saw the red scarred skin around the object, similar to Shiro’s arm. Shiro stepped towards Keith.

“We’ll need to have a look at it and ask some questions. Is that okay?” Both Keith and Lotor nodded. Lance didn’t know what to do with himself, but with his head swimming he decided that taking a break would be best for his mental health. He backed out the door, Hunk shooting him a worried glance which he ignored, as he turned towards Keith’s bedroom.   
____________________

Dread formed in Keith’s stomach at the familiar situation. He was lying almost naked on an examination table, surrounded by Coran, Shiro and Lotor, all wearing coats and gloves. The full force of the situation suddenly hit Keith and he squirmed off the table, only to be caught by a pair of strong arms. Keith was pulled to Shiro’s chest. “It’s okay, I know exactly how you feel. But we have to make sure there are no potential risks – this thing could be a bomb or something for all we know. We’ll just ask some questions, then check it out, then you’re done.”

Keith nodded shakily, really not wanting to do this, but he trusted Shiro’s words. Keith hopped back onto the table, lying down. 

“I’m telling you, I’m not the one who put it there!” Lotor was vividly explaining to Coran how the panel was there when he received Keith and wasn’t told anything about it, by either his father or Keith. Coran turned to Keith. “Can you tell me about how this got there, and what it’s for?”

Keith took a breath, and spoke some of his first words since he came aboard the ship, his quiet nervous voice startling Shiro. “Zarkon did it, well not him, his witches. I was unconscious for the whole surgery. It’s for- well, I was intended to be a s-sex slave. Prince Lotor can tell you what the buttons say. I really don’t think it does anything else…”

Keith shrunk back into himself at the judging looks he was given, and focused on Shiro’s comforting hand on his shoulder as the others spoke quietly. The rest of the examination went quickly – he was x-rayed, a blueprint of the object was drawn up, and an oil was put on his surrounding skin to help the scars fade. He knew it was the same thing Shiro used, so he trusted it. Keith looked up at the screen above them, at the blueprint of the hideous thing imbedded in his abdomen. Thin wires came out from behind the panel, twisting through his insides and connecting to different nerves and sexual organs. There had to be almost a dozen wires, Keith shuddered at the thought that those were inside him now. 

The rest of the day went quietly, and Keith had minimal contact with the other paladins. He thought there would be a big tearful reunion, that he’d hug everyone and tell them all about what happened, lying in their arms and hearing their soothing words – but that wasn’t the case. Shiro was busy with Coran and Allura, and the rest had left the main room one-by-one to do their own thing. Keith noticed, sadly, that Lance had left first. Lotor under instructions led Keith to the room he would be staying in – a large guest room close to the training room, with a single bed, kitchenette, bathroom and full length window. Lotor advised Keith to stay with him for a few nights, then get back into his routine. Keith passively agreed.

He didn’t know what to do with himself. That afternoon he busied himself with cleaning – he changed the sheets, dusted furniture, wiped surfaces, it was what he was the most comfortable doing. It’s not like he could go to the training room or go out and fly his lion like he usually would do if he was bored. That night Keith ate silently in his room, too exhausted and overwhelmed to sit with everyone else. The repulsive taste of space-goo was actually comforting, nostalgic, and Keith finished his entire plate. 

Keith fell asleep in Lotor’s bed before he returned, somehow uncomfortable in his own home, unsure of what he was supposed to say or do - unsure of his role in the castle.   
_______________

Lance also wasn’t present at dinner. He had gone straight to Keith’s room, and after a small nap he started tidying up. If Keith was going to sleep in his own room again, Lance was sure he didn’t want it to be untidy. Keith was a neat person, always liked the training room equipment put away properly, always liked the shelves in the bathroom orderly, always wiped down the benches in the kitchen after they ate – tears came to Lance’s eyes at the memories. But it would all go back to normal soon enough, and they could make more of those memories. _Keith just needs time to heal, he isn’t a completely different person._

Lance picked up all of his belongings and haphazardly threw them into his own room, which was cold and uncomfortable, and strutted back to Keith’s. He had pretty much been living in Keith’s room for the last few months, so much so that his own room was foreign to him. He wondered if Keith would let him share the room with him, maybe in the future. 

He lay on the bed, and prodded at his own stomach that was growling. Keith probably wouldn’t like it if he continued to skip meals. He remembered Keith jabbing him in the side, telling him that if he wasn’t so scrawny he would have more energy and get bigger muscles. Smiling from the memory, Lance slipped into the kitchen to plate up some food to take back to the room. 

_Keith will be fine. He just needs time to heal, and everything will be back to normal._


	12. Healing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All Keith needed was a little healing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is, the last chapter ;A;  
> I'm pretty happy to end on 12 chapters, thats a nice number. Plus after this I don't exactly know where it would go - I was thinking of a sequel or something, but I think this is a comfortable place to finish on.  
> (This took up 43 word document pages on size 12 font)  
> I hope you enjoy!

Shiro couldn’t sleep. He hadn’t slept the night before, either. He doubted he would sleep the next night too. There was no way he could rest until everything and everyone was alright, Keith and Lance in particular.

He wasn’t too pleased about having Lotor on board, but he seemed like their best bet against Zarkon. He tried to keep his cool professional demeanor on the outside, but on the inside he was restless – making sure Keith looked okay, ensuring Lance didn’t spend the whole day in bed wallowing in sadness, comforting Pidge and Hunk when they needed it, planning tactics with Allura- being the leader was really taking its toll on Shiro. He almost wished he could sleep and cry the day away like Lance, but his responsibilities kept him from doing that. His only real rest was at night, which he spent awake in anxiety anyways. 

Shiro sighed and rubbed his hands over his face, deciding sleep was useless. He opened his bedroom door and peered around, deciding where exactly he should go. A hot shower might relax his nerves, or he could let out some frustration in the training room, or eat his emotions away in the kitchen. After some mental debate, he found himself walking towards Keith’s old room. The door slid open, and he wasn’t even surprised to see Lance there, curled up on his side on the bed. Shiro smiled softly to himself.

Lance really had suffered the most, he was already a very emotional guy before all this happened. He wasn’t afraid to show it too, unlike Shiro. His eyes raked over the younger boy’s slight frame, and Shiro noticed where his clothes dipped in the gaps and crevices. He reminded himself to feed the boy in the morning. Not knowing what to do with himself, Shiro sat at the foot of the bed. He looked at Lance, looked at the table next to him holding Keith’s belongings, looked at the untouched closet Keith used to use. Lance had pretty much kept his room the way it was.

It would have been a few hours before ‘sunrise’ – in space they didn’t exactly have a sun, it was always dark, but the castle was programmed to have lights out time where everyone got about 7 hours of sleep. Even more, if you’re Lance. The ship was usually silent at such an early time – so Shiro was a bit surprised when he heard the electronic sound of a door opening somewhere in the hallway outside their rooms. Perhaps it was Hunk going to find food.

Shiro was even more surprised when the door to Keith’s own room opened before him, and the former owner shyly walked in. Keith was wearing the same thing he came here in, and Shiro wondered if he ever got to change clothes. He could go back to wearing his paladin uniform, or even his red jacket and black jeans at any time, he wondered why he didn’t. Maybe Lotor didn’t want him to. Maybe Keith was more comfortable in his skimpy loincloth. 

Keith was a little startled at the presence of the two men, but he didn’t leave. First he looked around, and breathed out a sigh. Shiro knew exactly how he felt. When Shiro was kidnapped, and returned back to Keith’s little shack in the middle of the desert – exhausted and injured, he breathed in that same sigh. It was a sigh of relief at the familiarity. Keith ran his fingers over the items in his wardrobe, picked up his books and flicked through them, swept the dust off the surfaces. 

Shiro watched the ministrations and smiled, knowing that Keith had no regrets in coming home, that he belonged here. So maybe life _could_ go back to normal.

The three of them managed to squish onto the same bed, Lance fast asleep during the whole ordeal and though Shiro and Keith never exchanged words that night, it was okay. They knew what each other were thinking.  
Shiro still stayed awake, watching out the circular window as they passed various planets and stars, his hands wrapped around the two boys as best as he could. He still didn’t sleep – probably because he was too busy cherishing the soft moment.  
________________________

Squished between two warm bodies, Lance was in heaven. He was in the blissful state between asleep and awake; not quite aware of what was happening, but conscious enough to enjoy it. He nuzzled closer to the body in front of him while pressing back into the other figure, listening to someone’s heartbeat and someone’s quiet breaths.

After a while he felt some movement, followed by a gasp and wriggling that indicated he was going to get up and leave. Instinctively Lance wrapped his arms around the figure tighter, making the other boy still in his actions. He spent a while like this, then decided he was awake enough to open his eyes. Inches away from his own, another pair of eyes started back at him.

Keith didn’t look uncomfortable – rather a little shocked and embarrassed. Lance understood his situation now, and assumed Shiro was behind him. How did he end up like this…? He fell asleep _alone_ in Keith’s room. And how did they all fit on the _same bed_ …?

Lance looked back at Keith, looking over the older boy’s features. He hadn’t noticed before that Keith had small freckles under his eyes, or that his lips looked chapped or how damn long his black eyelashes were. Lance nervously raised a hand to Keith’s hair, and Keith let him. He threaded his fingers through the long hair, detangling and massaging. He was captivated by the new length – the mullet looked kind of dumb, but a full blown ponytail really suited him. He’d probably make lots of girly jokes, just to hide his infatuation with it.

He tried to ignore the coldness of metal pressed against his abdomen from the boy, and focused on the good things he was feeling. He was sure he’d get used to the Galra tech the same way he did with Shiro’s arm, but for now it was a reminder of the horrors that the boy had been through – horrors that Lance didn’t know about yet. He’d ask him later. 

Once Shiro awoke they all silently made their way out to the kitchen, glowing from their sleep. Lance felt a lot more comforted than before, now that he knew Keith was alright and alive, and not brainwashed or anything. He did seem a little more welcome to physical touch, which of course wasn’t a bad thing. His fiery snarky attitude was replaced with a placid one, but surely once he got back into training and fighting battles that would come back. 

It must have been early because no one was in the kitchen – so Shiro started making something while Keith and Lance sat at the bench. Keith was looking around at all the things that hadn’t been there when he left. The paladins and the locals had been working to hunt and gather food (since they had all decidedly given up on eating space goo for every meal), and bottles and jars of different foods littered every surface in the room. Shiro was cooking with something that looked a lot like oats, and it had sparked Keith’s curiosity. “Grains,” Lance started enthusiastically, “are actually super similar here to the ones back home. So we can make bread and porridge and muesli and it tastes soooo similar, like, you’ll feel like your back on earth Keith I promise.”

Keith lightened up at that. 

Shiro placed a bowl of steaming oats in front of the two boys and dished up one for himself. At the familiar smell Keith almost drooled, and unceremoniously shoveled spoonfulls of the comfort food into his mouth, making Shiro and Lance chuckle. It was going to be a good day.  
______________________

Keith continued to paddle after his former owner, but found himself drifting to the others every so often. Lotor was like his safety blanket, he was comfortable that the man had the same opinion of him. But the others – Keith was afraid he’d be judged for his change, for the metal panel, for his actions and thoughts and attitudes. But over a few days, he sat with Lance, and talked to Shiro, and let Hunk hug him, and high-fived Pidge in the hallway like normal. He started talking more in conversations, he stopped slinking out of the room when it got to loud. He started sleeping in his own bed – which was a big step from him. He still sometimes slept by Lotor’s side, for the warmth and comfort. 

It had only been a few days, maybe a week by now, but he felt back at home. He didn’t feel like a stranger anymore – he knew about all the new things aboard ship like the jars of food in the kitchen and the various space-plants plotted throughout the castle on windowsills. He had reclaimed all his clothes and possessions, including the lion slippers that he wore everywhere now. He wasn’t quite up to training, or fighting in battles, due to his anxiety and how inexperienced he was from not having wielded a sword in almost a year. He did get his bayard back though, in case he wanted to join again soon.

He fell back into routine.

One morning, while Keith was changing Lotor’s sheets, the older man approached him. “Well Keith, Allura and I have been talking. We think it’s best for me to be positioned somewhere else for the safety of both the castle and my fleet, so I’ve decided to leave tonight. I’m happy you’ve found a home here again, I really am. I hope you don’t have a tarnished opinion of me…” Keith shook his head violently, and Lotor laughed, “Okay good. I’ll see you again at some stage, we are allies after all.” Keith could tell he was hiding his true emotions under his reassuring smile. “Instead of serving me, you can serve yourself now. Take care of yourself.”

Keith didn’t know what to do with himself once he had finished changing the sheets. Part of him was sad that Lotor was leaving, but part of him knew he had to move on. He’d still get to see him, after all. Lotor’s ship left relatively silently that night, with the promise of paying regular visits – even Lance and Allura looked a little upset that their boisterous visitor was leaving. Lotor had said his goodbyes to Keith, by running his fingers through the younger boy’s hair and whispering reassuring words to him, putting his nerves at ease. 

After that things weren’t quite back to normal, but they nearly were. Keith nearly wanted to train and join the team again. Lance nearly gained all his muscle and weight back, and you nearly couldn’t see his sharp hipbones like before. Shiro nearly made it through nights without having bad dreams or insomnia. Some things that remained were Keith’s long hair – an unexpected but not unwelcome feature to the other paladins. The panel also stayed, and Keith wasn’t ridiculed when he opened up about it to Lance. He just had one rule – don’t touch it. 

Things were _really nearly_ perfect. Keith just needed a little time to put the past behind him, to heal.  
_________________________

“Ha! Take that, Keith!”

Lance’s bayard clashed against Keith’s armour as the older boy stumbled back, sending a scowl his way. “You said you’d go easy on me!”

“You started training again a year ago, pretty boy, you should be up to my level by now!”

Keith continued to scowl, shaking his ponytail from his shoulder and preparing his bayard again. They had been in the training room all morning, since before the others were up. Lance had bet Keith he couldn’t beat him in sparring, and Keith wasn’t about to back down from a challenge.

Taking advantage of Lance’s distraction, Keith launched at him – dropping both of their bayards as they wrestled on the floor. Lance had become pretty good at hand-to-hand combat, and he happily passed his skills onto Keith; though the older boy seemed to have overtaken his master and it was almost his preferred way of fighting.

Keith yelped as his hair was tugged, so he pinned the younger boy to the ground below him, panting heavily. Lance freed one of his hands by squirming out of the grip, and sent Keith a cheeky smile before jabbing one of the buttons on Keith’s panel.

“God shit fuck- Lance!” Keith groaned as he rolled off the boy, trying to stop the orgasm shuddering through him. Lance punched the air in victory as the other paladin lay on the floor recovering, half annoyed for not winning and half blissed-out from his climax. “I thought I told you, you’re not allowed to use that move in sparring! That’s cheating!”

Lance just chuckled and offered him a hand up, which Keith took. He tried to catch his breath as Lance removed both of their training armour and sat on a ledge at the side. Keith would never have imagined being in this situation. When he was kidnapped, he never thought he would even see the castle again, let alone return to live in it. And even when he did come back the first time, he thought things would never be the same. But they were even better than it was before. 

His relationship with Shiro and Lance was more, well, _intimate_. They had done quite a bit of bonding over the last year – it had started innocently, honestly. But then Lance got his hands on the panel, and Keith got a little less afraid of the panel, and you can figure out what happened from there. 

Keith was close to re-joining Voltron, too. He was happy that they hadn’t even thought about replacing Keith, and just made-do with four lions. Now that his training was under way, he could get back into proper battles soon. And with Lotor on their side with all the information they needed, they finally had a real chance at beating Zarkon, and Keith had all the more reason to do just that. 

His train of thought was broken with the loud yell of “Pancakes!” beside him as he was yanked down the hallway, towards the source of the smell that was presumably coming from Shiro in the kitchen.

Keith smiled to himself. Maybe he would be alright, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for going on this journey with me, I really appreciate it and I love reading all the comments you leave.  
> This was my first proper fic, and it was kind of a coping mechanism and a birthday present to myself (I'm 18 on Saturday) and just a way of writing down the things that I think inside my head on the bus c:  
> Thanks again!!!!  
> Instagram: @cutie.cosplay  
> Tumblr: @pastelbishonen


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